Risky Business

Check. Check. 1..2..3... Is this thing on? Okay! So this is my first blog post through this adventure and I feel like I should begin with a disclaimer. 

*Disclaimer* - In no way shape or form, should you expect my writing to be anywhere near as beautiful or as eloquent as my dear, sweet, articulate wife/best friend.

There, now that we got that out of the way, hello sweet family and friends! Out of the 28 years of my life, I must say that this is by far the most exciting year of them all (however, 1993 was a close second with the release of Power Rangers. It was pretty epic). This year, I was able to see a group of people come together for one purpose and one purpose alone: to give a little boy who was abandoned right at birth a forever home and a forever family to love on him forever. To be honest with you, when Maggie and I first began this process, I was quite nervous about it. What if we can't raise enough money for this in time? What if we get really attatched to him and they take him away? What if I'm just too good of a dad and I make all other dads jealous of my dad skills? #dadisinthehouse! Okay, so maybe that last one wasn't a real one but it could happen! Anyways, it didn't take long for Jesus to teach me that I can't live in fear and anxiety. For me, it is easier to give into fear and anxiety than it is to trust and surrender it all to the Lord above. Even with my shortcomings, I was shown time and time again who is truly in charge. I'm not in charge. The individuals dealing with our adoption are not in charge. God is truly in charge. It is almost comical how much in charge He is than what we give him credit for in our daily lives. 

Throughout this process, my faith has been worn down and built back up much stronger than what it was before I laid eyes on Rhett's picture. God is good people and if He places a dream or a vision on your heart, go for it! Since Maggie and I have seen first hand the power of prayer, it makes us want to live a riskier life. I guess I should have done my pre-writing first before I started writing like I always tell my students because I'm wanting to just ramble on now but I will slow myself down. God has been placing this post on my heart for the past couple of days and I believe the purpose of this is to let you know that Jesus loves you and wants you to trust Him. He wants you to trust Him with the little things and the big things. I'm not saying I'm great at this but stepping out in faith to adopt Rhett was not only life changing for him but more so for Maggie and me. 

As many of you know, on December 3rd we received word that we would be picking up our beautiful son on December 14th and bringing him home on December 23rd. Maggie and I were told time and time again that the likelihood of us bringing Rhett home before Christmas was impossible. Well ladies and gentleman, like I said, God is in control and still answers prayers. What's your dream? What has God laid on your heart to accomplish for Him? Please ask yourself that question and wait for a response. I promise you, it will be worth more than you know

Michael (aka the dad)

P.S. Words cannot express how thankful I am for all of you and the support and prayers you have give us. I am overcome with thankfulness for our family and friends, loving coworkers, and a multitude of others who have stepped out in faith with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Grateful in the Midst of Waiting

We passed court two weeks ago today :) We have been anxiously awaiting travel dates to go back to Bulgaria and scoop up our little guy for good.

I don't even know where to begin.  I apologize that it's been so long since I've written. At this point, I struggle to know what to write. Essentially, we are just in awe, and purely grateful for this journey we are on to adopt Rhett. It has been over three months since we met our little bundle of joy, and we are dying to go back and snatch him up for good! I would be lying if I said this process hasn't been hard. It has been somewhat unbearable at times. But, so so worth it. Rhett is joining a forever family. The dream that was planted on my heart over ten years ago is becoming a reality. 

We were given the opportunity to travel and meet our son at the end of August. Many people have asked us if trip one was what we expected. Honestly, we had very few expectations for the trip. I had never traveled out of the country before this little excursion. In addition, we had NO clue how Rhett would react to us, etc. Our time with Rhett was truly better than we could have ever dreamed. 

When we arrived in Bulgaria, we experienced some culture shock and a few moments of, "We are here, in Bulgaria, to meet our son- WHAT?!" On our first day, we found his orphanage (5 min walk away) and prayed as we walked around the building. It was extremely surreal to realize that our son was only a couple hundred feet away from us and we would be meeting him in less than 24 hours. Michael and I talked a lot about what it looks like to have an "uncomfortable" faith. Before this whole experience, I don't think either of us had been in a situation where we were truly needing to depend on God to the point where it made us uncomfortable. We've started to realize that we now crave the uncomfortable. We crave God stretching us to new limits and multiplying our faith as we watch him provide and pave the way.  When Michael and I got married, I was stuck in a cycle of chronic anxiety that tormented me for years. I truly believe that a lot of my anxiety, though related to health issues, etc., was also directly related in my inability to really surrender to God's will for my life and TRUST that he really does go before us, protect us, and provide for our every need. As I look back, I see that God was shaping me for the incredible adventures ahead.  I used to become so anxious about "not knowing the future" and now God is teaching me that it's a lot better to not know the future. Is it difficult to not know? Of course. But, He has gone before Us. You. Me.  Why do I every worry? Even as I write this, I struggle with the constant battle of contentment and fighting my lack of patience in wanting travel dates. The struggle is real, but my God is gracious. Praise Him for loving us even as we go back and forth, falling and getting back up again. He is our source of peace. 

His is peace indeed. We felt shielded by the Holy Spirit during our entire trip to meet our son. Our first moment with him was pure love at first sight. I think I said, "He's perfect" like 50 times! We were allowed two visits per day Monday-Thursday and one visit Friday morning. During every visit with Rhett, there was a sacredness and beauty that could only be described as Gods hand and hedge of protection. Rhett is beautiful. We are in awe, complete awe, that we have the privilege to be his parents. Each day, pieces of his little personality would come out. At first, he was very quiet and reserved. Little by little, he started making more sounds and letting his personality shine. This kid. My heart. Ugh. We are so in love. God prepared his heart for us and our hearts for him.

God continues to give us peace as we wait. We could have never imagined the pain we'd experience through waiting. But, this waiting has also allowed us to experience an intimacy with God that we hadn't before. I continue to find complete comfort and peace in the fact that God IS Rhett's father. When I miss his smell and his goofy little tongue, I know that God is with him and knows every single hair on his head. When all I can do is cry because I miss him so badly, I know that God cares for my son deeply and longs for him to have a family. When I grieve about the fact that I didn't know my son for the first two and a half years of his life, I know that God has known him since before birth. Rhett is fearfully and wonderfully made. I am blessed to have an intimate relationship with my God, and he also has an intimate relationship with my son. It's sort of mind blowing. A song that continues to speak to my heart lately is "Good Good Father" by Chris Tomlin:

I've heard a thousand stories of what they think you're like
But I've heard tender whispers of love in the dead of night
And you tell me that you're pleased 
And that I'm never alone

You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am, It's who I am, It's who I am

I've seen many searching for answers far and wide
But I know we're all searching
For answers only you can provide
Cause you know just what we need
Before we, we say a word

 You're a Good, Good Father
It's who you are, it's who you are, it's who you are
And I'm loved by you
It's who I am, It's who I am, It's who I am

You're a Good, Good Father
And I'm loved by you

You are perfect in all of your ways
Perfect in all of your ways
You are perfect in all of your ways to us

God is Rhett's good, good father. How beautiful that He chose us to be Rhett's parents. It is truly a humbling gift. Waiting is hard stuff. I am the worst at waiting (sorry Nancy). But, in this waiting I am learning about God's patience, his deep love, and his perfect plans that don't always make sense in the moment. I would wait all over again if I had to. Rhett is worth the wait :) Soon my baby, we will have you in our arms forever!

Good News!

FINALLY! We have lots of good news :) Here is a snippet of what we have been up to for the past month :)

On June 15th, our last piece of paperwork was sent to our son's country.  Once the dossier is sent, you have to wait for it to be translated and then submitted. Once the dossier is submitted, you have to get verbal approval and written approval. Then, you get travel dates. At the beginning of July, we were under the impression that our dossier was still being translated, and we were praying for it to be submitted. On July 3rd, we received an e-mail that our dossier was not only submitted, but that we also had verbal approval!! We jumped a whole step forward! The last thing that we needed was to receive the written approval. This step can take a few weeks. However, we got written approval on July 15, only 12 days after verbal. As you can see, things were moving FAST- a lot faster than we expected. On July 20th, we received travel dates for the week of August 23-29th.  Though we had been praying for dates to be almost a month sooner, we have complete peace in God's timeline :) Many people have asked if we get to bring our son home on this trip. Unfortunately, the answer is no. We will wait another 4-6 months after the first trip until we can bring him home. During this time more paperwork is completed and the adoption will be finalized. Thank you everyone for your prayers!!! We are SOOOOO excited to meet our son. I keep dreaming about him every night :)

In preparation for our trip, we have been gathering some toys and books for us to play with and read to our son while we visit him each day.  We are also going to throw him a little belated b-day party (hence the balloons). 

We will also be bringing some clothes in different sizes so that we can get a better idea of where he is size wise. I can't wait to dress the little guy!!

For some MORE good news... We are around the fully funded mark! We met (and exceeded) our goal of $20,000!!! THANK YOU!!! For those of you who are curious, any money that goes over our goal will go towards medical costs or unexpected travel costs, etc. Again, it is very hard to actually give an exact cost for the adoption. But, we know that most of it is pretty much funded! Yippie!!! We honestly cannot thank you enough for all of your generosity, support, prayers, and love. This boy has so many people who love him already :) 

Speaking of our boy... I know I said we would be announcing his name on the next post. However, we actually might announce it when we are in country with him, since that will be very soon!!!            (I know a lot of you already know his name, hah)

***If you would like to follow our journey while we are visiting our son, please find me on Facebook, as we will have a private Facebook group!***

THANK YOU!!!

Saying "YES"

I apologize that it has been a few weeks since our last update :) We were working hard to get the Barn Dance Fundraiser organized. We are truly humbled with the amount of donations, support, and love that our friends, family, and community showed us with for the fundraiser. We had close to 40 different auction items and 30 different raffle items that were ALL donated to help with the fundraiser!! Michael and I cannot thank you enough for all of your help in bringing our son home. 

When we said "YES" to God's call to adopt in February, we literally couldn't have even imagined how God was going to open the floodgates of provision and support. Our hearts are overwhelmed as we watch God's plan unfold. Daily we talk about how saying "YES" to something so unknown and unplanned is the absolute BEST thing we have ever done. We have seen God provide in ways we couldn't imagine and we have been connected with so many amazing people. Our marriage is stronger, our faith is stronger, and we pray bolder prayers than we ever have before. Our passion for adoption and the fatherless has grown tenfold. Overall, this adoption has been a crazy awesome lesson in trusting and surrendering to God's call to our lives. HIS plan is more amazing than anything we could ever dream for our family.  Michael and I spent some time during our anniversary dinner last week discussing our lives and the direction we are headed. Both of us are filled with so much joy as we want to continue saying "YES" to whatever God calls us to. We want to raise our children to remember that God's plan may not always seem "safe" but it is SO good. 

What is God calling you to say "YES" to? What is holding you back? GO! Say "YES"! Your life will forever be changed and your faith will increase more than you can imagine! 

Whew, can you tell I am passionate about this!? Anyways, thank you again for the overwhelming support and love. God is using each and every one of you in mighty ways. For those of you who would like some updates, here is where we are in the process:

On Monday our i800a approval (basically the US saying we have pre-approval to adopt from another country) was sent to the adoption country where all of our other dossier paperwork is waiting. Our dossier must be translated and then submitted. Upon submission, we wait for a verbal and written approval, which will then allow us to get travel dates for trip one. Will you partner with us in praying that we can travel at the end of July/beginning of August?  On paper, this doesn't really seem possible.  However, throughout this whole process, God has shown us that he is in the business of making the impossible, possible. There are a few reasons why we would love to travel at this time: 
1. It would fall near his birthday (and who doesn't want to celebrate their son's birthday with them?!)
2. It would be ALOT easier for our jobs
3. Uhhh we want to meet him!!! haha

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT, GENEROSITY, ENCOURAGEMENT, LOVE, TIME, EFFORT, & PRAYERS!!! YOU ARE BRINGING AN ORPHAN HOME!!! 

Stay tuned....we will be announcing his new name on the next blog post! 

June 13th Barn Dance and Silent Auction Fundraising Event

We would  LOVE to have you join us at our huge fundraising event!!! Please come for a night of fun!

The evening will include dancing, food, drinks, raffles, silent & live auctions! ALL proceeds will go towards bringing our son home! 

WHEN: June 13th 6pm-10pm

WHERE: 17313 Cherry Tree Road, Noblesville, IN 46062

COST: $10 per adult & $5 per child

QUESTIONS? E-mail mmperry611@gmail.

Auction Items: 

7days/7nights stay at Mylin Villa in Estero, FL

Professional Photo Shoot by Tricia Forman Photography

Bob & Tom Experience

Golf Round for 2 at Prairie View

Boutique Outfit from Pretty Cute Things

1hr Massage from Tracy Rupp

1hr Massage from Shrout Chiropractic

4 Sets of 5-STAR Dance lesson packages

1 Week of Private Swim Lessons at Mylin Swim School

Essential Oil & Diffuser

Golf Analysis by Golf Tech

Hair Salon Basket with product and service

Month of Yoga

Mary Kay Basket

Week of Horse Back Riding Lessons

5 Archery Lessons

AH Collection Girls Night Out

1hr Evening Cruise with wine/cheese for 4 people on Eagle Creek Reservoir

 Signed Picture of Jeff Saturday

Ningxia Red Chrome Collection Kit 

Jewelry

2 Pairs of Designer Sunglasses

Kate Spade Purse

***MORE ITEMS TO COME

Raffle Items:

$25 Biaggi's Gift Card

1 Dozen Cake Pops

$20 Delaney's Gift Card

Butler's Nursery Hanging Basket

2 $25 Whole Foods Gift Gards

2 $25 McKenzie River Pizza Gift Card

Homemade Pies & Cheesecake

2 Car Wash King Booklets
$50 Beauty Brands Gift Card
$50 Noah's Animal Hospital Gift Card
Pink Children's Suit Case
Blue Children's Suit Case
Hand-drawn portrait from Jane Zeronik
Signed Picture of Jeff Saturday

***MORE ITEMS TO COME

Making Progress!

Here are some updates for everyone!!!

1. The Garage Sale was a HUGE success! We were able to raise almost $1,400 towards the cost of our adoption. Thank you to everyone who donated items & tables, sorted items, and shopped! We still have an entire garage full of stuff, so we plan on having another sale this summer :) For a few days we felt like hoarders! It was amazing how much stuff was donated to help us out!

Michael & my dad organizing the garage (the entire driveway was covered with stuff)

Our garage was packed full. We also filled our neighbors garage with stuff, too!

My mom helped sort clothes

This is basically what our whole house looked like!

Boone just laid in the piles of stuff (I'm sorry, we really love our cat...)

These are our church friends, Laura & her hubby Jason. They bought an entire car full of stuff!!

I am kicking myself that I didn't take more pictures of everyone who was involved in the process. For everyone who helped out & came to the sale, THANK YOU!

2. Shelley, the AMAZING go to person from our adoption agency, contacted me last weekend and let me know that all of our apostilled documents made their way safely to her. She sent everything in to our adoption country to be translated.

3. Our USCIS application was received. We are waiting on Biometrics dates (fingerprints) and then it should be a few weeks (maybe more) until we get the pre-immigration approval. Once we get the approval, we will send it in and our entire Dossier will be submitted. Then....we wait.

____________________________________________

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!

We are having a HUGE Barn Dance/Silent Auction for our adoption fundraising. The raffle prizes and silent auction items are AWESOME. Come on out for a night of fun! 

WHEN: June 13 6pm - 10pm

COST: $10 per adult and $3 per child

WHERE: 17313 Cherry Tree Road, Noblesville, IN 46062

NEED MORE INFO?: E-mail me at mmperry611@gmail.com 

*Find me on Facebook and I can add you to the event. We have more details posted.*

______________________________________________

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. Please continue to pray for a quick timeline for our adoption. We would LOVE to be able to travel on trip one at the end of July/beginning of August. We recognize that this may not look possible on paper, but God is capable of anything :) We trust his timing. 

2. Please continue to pray for our fundraising! 

3. Most of all, please pray for our son-  may he be held, loved, nurtured, and comforted. May he know deep down that his mommy, daddy, family, friends, and even strangers are fighting hard to bring him home. 

4. Pray for the many many children who do not have forever homes yet. Pray that families will feel led to adopt!!

God continues to amaze us with his provision and the people he is bringing in our path. We met some amazing neighbors during our garage sale. Many of them had personal stories of adoption and were quick to donate to the cause. We are truly humbled by the generosity of our friends, family, and even complete strangers. All glory goes to God! We pray that our adoption story can bring people to know God personally. Some may think this is a crazy journey- but we wouldn't want it any other way. It has been amazing how God has shown us that if we just say "YES" to his call, he will guide our every step. Our trust and faith have grown exponentially throughout these past three months. 

God Moves & So Does our Paperwork :)

As I write this today, my heart is just smiling at how God really is involved in even the smallest details of our lives. Here are a few ways that he has been answering some of our specific prayers over the past few weeks:

1. Michael and I are having a HUGE garage sale during our neighborhood community garage sale in Cherry Tree Meadows (off of 171st & Cherry Tree Road) on May 15-16 (8:00am-? both days). We have been asking people for item donations, as all of the proceeds will go towards our adoption. We've been blown away by the generosity of our friends, family, and co-workers. Last week, my friend prompted me to post our garage sale and donation request on our work advertising page. The day I posted the donation request I received the following e-mail:

"My family and I have been collecting garage sale items in our house throughout this year.  Our neighborhood garage sale is this weekend, however, due to sports schedules we will be unable to participate.

I've been praying for an opportunity to use these items toward a good use, as I did not believe I should take them to goodwill.  Only 2 days of praying, your opportunity has been offered :)"

Isn't that so cool?! I love how the Lord works! We have been so humbled that people we don't even know are willing to donate their items towards our garage sale. Thank you so much! As of now, our garage is COMPLETELY packed full with furniture and garage sale items. We have started to fill up our friend's garage, too. Thankfully she lives in the same neighborhood! Please come out and shop!!! We will have the updated pictures of our little guy at the sale, so you can also see what he looks like now! (Sorry, we can't post these on the internet)

2. A few weeks ago our fundraising was going a bit slow. We had some bigger costs coming up with the USCIS application and started praying that God would provide us with a donation every day for at least the next week. Our fundraising started to take off the day we began praying for more donations. We did in fact receive donations every day for that week. Thank you for donating! We are almost 1/4 of the way towards our goal!

3. We were praying and asking others to pray for my passport to come in, as we needed it for our USCIS application and dossier paperwork. My passport came in three days before we were given the notarized copies of our home study. PERFECT timing! We were able to send in our USCIS application on Tuesday of last week and our Dossier paperwork the following day. I love how God is moving and reminding us that HE is in control. HE gets all of the glory for this adoption. HE will provide, even with the smallest need. He just wants us to ask and to come to him with every little detail of our lives. Sometimes he may not answer how we want him to, however, he promises that if we draw near to Him, then he will draw near to us. We are totally in awe of how he has been moving in our lives with this adoption :)

Thank you again for all of your support, encouragement, prayers, and donations. We could not do all of this without YOU! I will be posting pictures of some of the items for our garage sale soon if possible! Please come out and shop!!

SILENT AUCTION & BARN DANCE JUNE 13th

HUGE FUNDRAISING EVENT!!!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR JUNE 13th 6pm-10pm. 

$10 Per person

Barn Dance with FOOD, a SILENT AUCTION, and RAFFLES!!!  

More information to come SOON! 

Maggie's Passport is Finally HERE!

Thank you to everyone who was praying for my passport to come!! It finally arrived in the mail today :) Can you tell that I am a little excited?!

For those of you wondering why we needed my passport to get here, I have to send in a copy of my passport with all of our Dossier paperwork. 

Here are the next steps we will be taking in the adoption process:

1. We will send in Dossier documents to be apostilled (higher form of notarized) hopefully on Monday or Tuesday of next week. We are waiting to get the notarized copies of our home study. 

2. Once everything is apostilled, it will be sent away to get translated!

3. When we get our notarized home study next week, we will also submit our USCIS application to get immigration approval for our little guy (can take up to 90 days). The USCIS approval is the last document needed for the Dossier. 

4. After all Dossier documents are in country and translated, they will be submitted for approval. This can take a chunk of time.

5. Once we are approved, we will be given travel dates for trip one. 

Overall, we are definitely looking at a few months before we will get to travel on trip one. Again, we are praying that everything can go quickly, as we would love to be able to travel at the end of July/beginning of August to be able to celebrate our son's birthday with him. Will you pray that this could be a reality? Though it seems like that could be somewhat of a stretch to travel so soon, we are praying and asking for others to join us in prayer for that specific travel date window. We understand that nothing can be predicted or expected with adoption, so we are not getting our hopes up for any specific travel dates. However, we will still continue to pray :) 

Thank you to all of you for your support and generosity with helping us bring "Royce" home. We are hoping to hit the $5,000 mark soon with fundraising! That will help us to be 1/4 of the way towards reaching our goal! In terms of some fundraising events that are coming up:

1. HUGE garage sale on May 15&16 at our home in Noblesville. We are taking item donations for things to be sold in the sale. All proceeds will go directly towards the adoption. Please e-mail me at mmperry611@gmail.com if you have any items you would like to donate. 

2. Barn Dance/Silent Auction June 13. Stay tuned for this fun event. There are going to be some AMAZING items in the silent auction!

3. Our T-shirt sale is still going on until we sell all of the shirts. We need to sell about 50 more t-shirts in order to hit our goal of 75 shirts sold. If we sell 75 shirts, ALL of the money will go towards our adoption, and we do not have to pay for the cost of the shirts. WOW! That's $1,500 directly towards the adoption! Will you consider buying a t-shirt? They are super soft :) If you are interested, check this blog post about how you can get one! 

Thank you again! We love all of you and can't wait to bring our son home to such an amazing community of people. We couldn't do this without you! 

Updated Prayer Requests

Hello!!!

Michael and I wanted to share some specific prayer request updates for those of you who are prayer warriors! Thank you for praying!!!

1. My (Maggie) Passport. We would love it if my passport would come ASAP. There was an issue because they needed another piece of documentation, which set us back a few weeks. A copy of our passports needs to be included on our dossier, so we are praying it comes soon! We would hate to have to delay sending in our first chunk of dossier paperwork just because of my late passport!

2. Fundraising. First of all, thank you to everyone who has donated! We couldn't be more humbled and blown away by the generosity of our friends and family. As of now, we still need to raise a little under $19,000. We fully trust that God will provide! If you are interested in donating towards our adoption, the specifics are on our previous post :) Also, our neighborhood is having a community garage sale on May 15-16. We are taking donations for our garage sale, and all proceeds with go directly towards the adoption. Please pray for a successful garage sale, too! (If you are interested in donating items for the garage sale, please e-mail me mmperry611@gmail.com)

3. Travel. Our first travel date is dependent upon several factors such as timing with paperwork, country holidays, etc. We are praying that things would move FAST and that our first trip can be during the end of July/beginning of August. We would LOVE nothing more than to celebrate our son's second birthday with him :) We trust in God's perfect timing with all of this!

Thank you for praying! Michael and I have been able to make a lot of progress with our paperwork, which is very exciting. While we are in this waiting period, we have been watching the videos that we received of him. Since it is all we have of Royce right now, we literally just study and soak in as much as we can of our son. We are so in love with him :) Some day we will get to share updated pictures/videos!

Thanks again for walking through this journey with us!

He Goes Before Us

Every day, I am reminded that the Lord truly goes before us and directs our steps. I am just in awe. More specifically, I am in awe of how the Lord has gone before us with this adoption. 

A few weeks ago, I remembered that the Lord spoke so clearly to me a few years back about our future adoption. I was looking through my old journals, and I found an entry that was dated October 25, 2012 (roughly a little over two and a half years ago). During this time in our lives, we were living on one income, and I was still finishing up school. Though adoption was heavy on our hearts, we knew it wasn't our time. So, I prayed and prayed that God would at least give me some sort of timeline. On October 25, 2012, God spoke so clearly to me during my morning quite time with him. The Lord first directed me to these verses:

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure & faultless is this: to look after orphans & widows in their distress & to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." - James 1:27

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." - Matthew 25:35-36

"The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow." - Psalm 146:9

"Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."- Isaiah 1:17

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." - Psalm 82:3-4

"Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. This is why I command you to do the same." - Deuteronomy 24:17-18

God's word is so full of the Lord's love and care for orphans and the fatherless. He delights in these sweet babes being redeemed and adopted into a new life, just as he has redeemed and adopted all of us. 

Below the verses, I wrote the following prayer in my journal:

Abba,
Wow, I thank you for directing my time this morning towards how you feel about orphans. Lord, the pull to adopt gets heavier and heavier by the day. I am thankful that Michael is feeling the same way. Lord, I asked you for a time frame (as I was thinking three years from now would be perfect) and I was brought to Deuteronomy 14:28-29 "At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands." This mentions giving your tithes to the fatherless in three years. Is this what you want Lord? If so, please continue to make it so obvious...Lord we give our lives to you. My heart has been changing so much as I desire to adopt more than having my own children as of now. Lord, we serve you and you alone. I ask God that this time frame would be known to us and also that you would show us what we need to do now to prepare...I ask God that you would just lead us by your hand and provide at each step. I don't know how we will afford living, where we will live, etc. But, I trust you and all that you have in store. Please prepare us now. 

I didn't realize that two and a half years had gone by since this very memorable quiet time with the Lord. It was always in the back of my mind, but I didn't even put the pieces together until we had already committed to adopting Royce. Then, it all came back to me a few weeks ago when I found this journal entry. In almost exactly three years from when I had that quite time and God spoke so clearly to me, we will either have already met or be meeting our son.  That is not a coincidence.  The Lord had this all planned out and knew every step we would need to take to be able to adopt. 

God has answered this prayer and prepared us more than I could imagine. A lot has happened in two and a half years. Michael went back to school to be a teacher. He is now thriving as a third grade teacher. I graduated and became a high school resource teacher. We thought we were going to build a house and instead God provided the perfect home for us this year. We were able to pay off some debt and continue to work towards being debt free. We have become very involved with our church and the special needs community. We have grown closer as a couple. The list goes on. God knew exactly where we needed to be in order to be able to adopt. He let me know that three years ago, even though I could have NEVER imagined where we would be in three years. May this story be a testament that the Lord cares SO deeply for each of us. He longs to have relationship with us and to walk through this life with us. Life with him is not necessarily "safe" in terms of a worldly, stay in my comfort zone, safe. But, life with him is SO full and I honestly wouldn't want it any other way. 

My heart is so full when I really am seeing that everything we have been though has led us to this moment. Royce babe, we can't wait to bring you home. You have been the sweet boy we've been praying for, for many years. 

A BIG THANKS
Let me transition to thanking everyone for their encouragement and support in this process. We can't thank you enough for your prayers. Please keep them coming! In addition, we are so thankful for those that have donated towards the adoption. We can't do this without you! 

If you feel led to donate, there are a few ways to give:

Give online (2 options): 
1. You can click the donate button at the top right of our blog, which will lead you to our fundraising page. Razoo does take out processing fees and credit card fees. To avoid this, you can also give online this way:

2. Go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate. Select “Adoption Funding” and “Family Specific.” Complete the online form and fill in “Family Account Number: 5251” and “Family Name: Perry” Fields. (If you donate here this is no processing fee and only a small credit card fee. The amount will still show up on the Razoo fundraising page, as I can enter it manually.)

Write a check: 
Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744 (Please put Perry #5251 in the memo line.)

Buy a T-shirt:

My amazing friend had these t-shirts designed for our adoption! They are available in adult and youth sizes. 

COST: T-shirts are $20 if you live in the area and we can get them to you without shipping or $25 if you need to have it shipped. 

IF WE SELL 75 T-SHIRTS, 100% OF THE $ GOES DIRECTLY TOWARDS OUR ADOPTION!!!

If you want to buy a t-shirt, please e-mail my friend Brittaney at hazel743@gmail.com In the e-mail please include:
1. Your name
2. # and size(s) of t-shirts you want to order
3. Your address
*** You can send Brittaney or myself a check (just email us for our address) or you can pay through the paypal link. 

Thank you for everything! Please feel free to email me with any questions!!! mmperry611@gmail.com

UPDATE:
For now, we are continuing on the paper chase :) We will hopefully be sending in the first chunk of our dossier within a few weeks. Our home study is being written, so that will be done soon. I had an issue with my passport application, so any prayers for that to speed up would be great! We will continue to keep you all updated. I'll leave you with a picture of our funny cat, Boone, who likes to "help" with the paperwork/fundraising process :) 

One Less

Happy World Down Syndrome Day!!! 
I know the date published says 3/19- but we are just leaking this info today :)

We thought World Down Syndrome Day was the perfect day to make such a special announcement...

(Wear your crazy socks today to support World Down Syndrome Day!)

We are in the process of adopting a sweet baby boy with Down syndrome from Eastern Europe! There is going to be one less orphan in the world! Lots of you know that this has been a dream of ours since before we were even married. Why don't you just grab a cup of coffee, and I'll fill you in on our journey :)

PRESIDENT'S DAY WEEKEND 2015:
Michael and I boarded one of 7 charter busses, filled with amazing high schoolers, for the Grace Merge Winter Retreat in Pennsylvania. We were looking forward to time with our small groups, fellowship, lots of laughs, and amazing worship. Little did we know, the Lord would speak so clearly to both of us over this weekend. 

During session one, Barry R. spoke about our calling in life. He shared vulnerably about his past and how God transformed a lazy, comfort craving, couch potato into a journalist who travels the world and spreads God's word. Near the end of his sermon, he told the story of Peter. Peter was a little boy in Ukraine who was placed into an orphanage due to his special needs. Barry wrote an article about Peter, and long story short, people in America were donating funds to help Peter be adopted in the Ukraine. At the same time, a volunteer began to fall in love with Peter, but he knew he would never be able to adopt him due to finances. Barry was able to connect the dots, and Peter was adopted. He spent the last four years of his life in a home filled with love and laughter. During this part of the sermon, with tears streaming down my face, I clearly heard the Lord speak to me saying, "Maggie, this is your time. You and Michael need to adopt NOW." I quickly found Michael in the back of the room and told him about what God had laid upon my heart. Right away, Michael told me that he, too, felt God telling him that this is our time. 

Throughout the day, I chewed on what the Lord was telling us, and I prayed fervently that he would continue to direct us if this is what he wants for us now. That evening, during session two, Barry told the story of Gideon. Gideon was pretty much a nobody, yet God told him that he was a mighty warrior. Though Gideon did not see himself this way, God did and He had a specific mission that he needed Gideon to fulfill. At the end of the session, the students were able to spend some time in prayer, worship, and reflection. There were words posted all around the room, and the students were directed to find the word that they felt God was impressing upon their hearts. The words ranged from inspiration, advocate, relentless, etc. Right away, the word advocate was staring me in the face and heart. Adopting IS what God wants us to do right now. In the quietness of my soul, I could sense the Holy Spirit telling me, "Maggie, you will be an advocate for these unwanted children."  I was led to tears and humility as this is has always been my passion. Many people don't realize the need for adoption, let alone special needs adoption. These sweet children need families to love on them and provide them with the services and care needed to help them thrive. I told Michael and again he, too, felt the Lord leading him this way. 

Later in the evening, as I was praying, I felt the strongest nudge to open my Bible and soak in the Lord's word. Here are the two verses I opened right up to:

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." - Proverbs 31:8-9

"She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy."- Proverbs 31:20

Ummmm... "Advocate"..."Adoption"... my mind was blown. I knew from the core of my being that God wanted us to start this process that we have always longed to start NOW. 

The next day, Michael and I confronted the big question staring us in the face all weekend, "How will we raise the money?" Michael and I knew for sure that this is what God wanted, but we were not prepared financially to begin now. Yes, we will be able to raise the child and provide financially in that way. But, we do not have all of the upfront costs for the actual adoption process. 

Of course, session three was all about obstacles. Barry spoke about the fact that if God calls us to something, most of us will feel that we have obstacles in the way. Many obstacles fall into the categories of weakness, money, and fear. Barry reminded us that when God asks us to do something, HE will foot the bill. Again, in the stillness of my soul, I felt the Holy Spirit saying, "See, I've got this. Just move forward and let me provide." During the session, Michael continued to get the name and face of "Royce" in his mind. We spotted him on Reece's Rainbow (a site we frequent often) a day earlier. "Royce" is his name from Reece's Rainbow. We are not allowed to give out his real name. However, we will be changing it and announcing his new name later on in the process! Michael told me that evening that he was confident that "Royce" was the boy God wanted us to adopt. Here is what is CRAZY... Many of you know that I have had a passion for adopting, especially kids with special needs, since I was very young. Michael shares the same passion (I'm so glad the Lord led us to one another!). We've always talked about adopting, and I've prayed that when it's our time God would tell Michael WHO we need to adopt. So you can imagine my shock when Michael told me that he knew who our child was. I never told him that I had been praying for him to be the one to get the clear direction about who we should adopt. I was led to my knees for the remainder of worship that evening, in awe of God's leading. Michael and I were so excited to just START and see what happened. So, during our trip home and the next week, that is exactly what we did. 

Let's just say that God wasn't kidding when he told us he would provide.  We knew that to get this process started right away, we were going to need a certain amount of money within the first month to pay for our home study and the adoption agency commitment fees. We sent out an e-mail to a few family and friends, asking for prayer and financial support if they felt led. Michael and I were praying to get the start up funds within a month.  You can imagine our surprise when we were given the start up funds within FOUR days. What?! We have been so humbled by people's generosity, encouragement, and support. 

WHY ADOPTION?
Michael and I both have talked about adopting since before we were even married. We have shared passions for kiddos with special needs and adoption. We are not adopting due to an inability to have children (at least that we know of). We are adopting because we want to provide a home for a child who is considered "unwanted." We believe that adoption mirrors God's love for us, as we have been adopted into his kingdom as his sons and daughters. We both feel specifically led to international adoption. Typically, children with special needs are completely looked down upon in other countries. They are not provided with many of the services and supports that we have for kids with special needs in the United States. 

WHERE ARE WE NOW?
It has been a little over a month since we have jumped into this adoption journey. We sent in commitment paperwork for "Royce" three weeks ago and received a commitment approval on Friday (check out our timeline for more details). This basically means that he is "on hold" for us. In addition, we have already had all three of our home study meetings. We are trying to quickly finish the final paperwork so that our home study can be written and finalized! As we work on finishing the paperwork for our home study, we are also putting together paperwork for our Dossier. (Did you know that this process is referred to as the paper pregnancy?! Sure feels like it!) Basically any free minute of the day has been spent filling out papers, running to the post office, getting finger prints, etc. We are trying to have a sense of urgency with everything so that we can bring home our baby boy as soon as possible! 

HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Prayer- Michael and I so appreciate any prayers for this process. We are asking people to pray specifically for the process to go smoothly. In addition, we ask for continual prayers for "Royce." To our knowledge, he is in a very good orphanage. However, no orphanage can replace a loving home. We pray daily that "Royce" is getting attention by being held and loved on. 

Funding- In addition to prayer, we are asking people to partner with us in fundraising for the adoption. We anticipate the entire adoption to cost around $28,000 - $30,000 (including the upfront costs that we were able to raise). Michael and I are working hard to finance as much as we can. We are possibly going to be selling some things through Etsy, having garage sales, etc. (More on that to come later). We will also be applying for grants. However, we need your help to bring "Royce" home. Our goal is to raise $20,000 by July 20, 2015.

If you feel led to support us financially, you can either:
 1. Click the Donate button on the top right side of our blog
2. Send a check to: (In the memo note Perry #5251 to assure it goes to the correct account)

Lifesong for Orphans, 

PO Box 40, 

Gridley, IL 61744

Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all U.S. administrative and fund-

raising costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your donation will go directly to the adoption. If paying via Paypal, there is an administrative fee. 

In honor of World Down Syndrome Day, will you make a donation that includes the number 21?

We will do updates on how much we have raised. We can't thank you enough for partnering with us to bring our baby home!