Can anything good come?

"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?"- John 1:46
When i was thinking of that verse, the though came to mind, "How much good"? As we were going through the motions of the planning of this fundraising dinner, it became more and more apparent to me that this dinner was no just about us and bringing our kids home from Eastern Europe. God was working out many other plans in and through this event. I take comfort in knowing some and knowing there are so many more that I do not know. A few people i met had been curious about our Church and will possibly now be coming to a service. There were several people that had considered adoption who are now connected with people that will love them through the process. As Sheryl Sprague keeps reminding me, people were given the opportunity to serve. And many new friends were made! Go GOD!!!

We had so many volunteers people though we started the dinner early!

It was a time for families!

We were reminded of the generosity of the world!

Good friends served the Lord side by side!

New friends were made! And Traci performed magic with her hands! ;)

It would never be possible to Thank everyone adequately. You all are amazing and an immeasurable blessing!

We are now seasoned enough at the adoption process to know that when we are in the battle, feeling weary and in need of affirmation, God bring us what we need! Yes, we need funds ($5200 was raised...Praise God!), but we also needed to see the love of friends gathered around us. It was an added blessing to see a small part of all the other plans God was working through this event.

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”- John 13:35

Shane

His Will...His Bill!

It is a saying that i first heard from a missionary friend named Michele Perry (http://fromtheunpavedroad.com/). Accepting God's direction, she traveled to Sudan to start and Orphanage. She arrived in Yei, Sudan, a place she had never been before, alone and with about $200 in her pocket. The next day she signed a lease on a building of which she had no idea where the rent money was coming from. But because of her faith in our ever loving Father, she simply said, "His will...His Bill"!

Michele has a faith that i admire. She is an inspiration to me and the marker of where i hope my faith will be some day. But today, I can only explain my faith as being hot, warm and cold. I know that God will not send me on a journey and neglect to light the path or provide the tools. But there are those days when it seems like nothing is happening and i start to question and worry.

A week ago i was in just such a place. We have our USCIS approval, the dossier is a piece of cake, it looked like things were coming together except we have less than $2000 of the $50,000 we need to go get our kids and were without idea of where it would come from...Ugh!

For our 2010 Adoption in addition to a grant and some donations, we emptied our savings, cashed in our 401k's and took out loans. With our tax return we paid back some of the loans, and gave back through mission work with orphans in Ukraine. So, when we decided we would adopt again we were absolutely starting from zero and further back than we were on the first adoption.

Doing nothing was not an option so we reached out to our Church. Before we knew it, we had a date locked in to hold a Spaghetti dinner. Now, we have never done a spaghetti dinner and had no idea even where to start. We were confident that left to ourselves to pull this off it would likely not turn out well. God knew that to, so he sent us Sheryl Sprague to take charge. Sheryl has leadership experience and a huge heart for serving the Lord. Before we knew it the event was taking form. Many of our friends and Church family had come forward to volunteer and it is absolutely amazing to see that we are not in this alone!

Thank You to everyone that has come along side of us! Your love has brought us peace!

Shane & Diana