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 :)