With you Heart and Soul

Is it just me or did summer absolutely fly by? Perhaps it’s because our school year started up earlier this year, or perhaps it’s because the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activities, but I feel like it was just yesterday that we were planning the June 1 rummage sale, and now we’re preparing for the kick-off of the football season, apple picking, and all the other things that come along with cooler fall weather! It’s crazy! Here’s where the Sheltons are in our adoption process. Although we took a break from our own fundraising efforts, at least publically, a lot has been going on behind the scenes as we gear up for what’s next! I like to think of the last few months as “Heart and Soul Months.” They’ve been months where we have seen God work on behalf of orphans in lots of different ways, and months where we got to take a back seat in fundraising efforts and play a supporting role on behalf of someone else’s. But they’ve also been months where we’ve been given little reminders that have encouraged us on our journey and reminded us that we have a great cast of supporters cheering us on. At the end of June, Steve and I had dinner with some of our dearest friends in the world. (Here I am going to break my usual rule of not mentioning names in my blog because they have openly blogged about their journey and God’s assistance in it, and it would be a great read for anyone who hasn’t gotten enough adoption goodness here! You can check them out at steveandmeggannsadoption.blogspot.com. Keep some Kleenex handy when you do.) Steve and Steve have been best buddies since junior high, except that back then my Steve was a foot shorter then than the other Steve, and so we still to this day affectionately refer to the other Steve as Big Steve. He’s now six foot five, so “big” is an accurate description, not an insult!  Anyway, Big Steve and Meggann have been fundraising for four years. They scrimped and pinched and saved their pennies, doing things like going without cable, driving old cars, and making do with what they had so that they could put every cent they had into their adoption. Meggann often said, “Pennies make dollars,” and she was diligent about picking up spare change and squirreling it away. In May, their dossier made its way to Ethiopia, and three weeks later, they accepted a referral for a little boy off the waiting child list. (The waiting child list is essentially a list of children who have all their paperwork in order and are adoption-ready, but who have not been matched up with a family as of yet.) Having the referral was wonderful, except for one minor obstacle – Steve and Meggann were somewhere between $13,000 and $20,00 short of what they needed to go get him, and they had a month to raise it! My Steve and I immediately promised to be their biggest supporters, and we promised to spread the word, keep them in our prayers, and most importantly, do whatever we could to help them bring their son home. Meggann posted on Facebook about some donations that were coming in and what was needed and I responded to her, “We’re with you heart and soul. Let’s bring that baby home!” Big Steve and Meggann both “liked” my comment on Facebook, but It wasn’t until a conversation a few days later that I was able to explain to Meggann what I meant by it. I was referring to 1 Samuel 13 and 14. The Israelites were in yet another battle with those pesky Philistines, and this time they were drastically outnumbered and unprepared. Saul had an army of 2,000 which had dwindled to 600; Jonathan had an army of 1,000 which were apparently no where to be found; and the Philistines were as numerous as the sand on the seashore. To make matters worse, the Philistine raiding parties had made sure that there were no blacksmiths in Israel, so the Israelites were armed with plows, and pitchforks. The only warriors with swords or spears were Saul and Jonathan. So the Israelites, having picked a fight that was way beyond their means to win, did the only sensible thing they could do – hid in caves, cisterns, and/or crossed over to join the Philistines. All of that changed, however, one day when Jonathan told his armor bearer that he wanted to go over and attack the Philistines – just the two of them. “Perhaps the Lord will work in our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.” How did his armor bearer respond? “Do all you have in mind. Go ahead; I am with you heart and soul.” So the two of them came out into the open ready for battle. The place where they were standing had cliffs on either side, and the Philistines saw them coming and began to taunt them. Jonathan told his armor bearer that if the Philistines told them to come up, they would know God was with them. And that’s precisely what happened. The Philistines chided them for crawling out of the holes they’d been hiding in and told them to, “Come up here and we’ll teach you a lesson.” Scripture tells us that Jonathan and his armor bearer (who is never named, by the way), climbed up to them using their hands and feet. (Talk about being exposed and in danger! Now that takes faith!!!) And when they got to the top, they went along fighting and killing the Philistines, Jonathan in front, and his armor bearer right behind him. The two of them killed twenty soldiers in the space of about half an acre. When the rest of the Israelites heard the commotion, they rallied the troops, came out of hiding, mustered their forces, and with the aid of a God-given panic sent on the Philistines, routed the enemy and gained a great victory. I told Meggann that I knew this journey was scary, and that she was feeling exposed and like she was climbing a cliff with her hands and feet – that the journey was too much for anyone, and yet, she was stepping forward in faith and doing it. And we were right there with her, and God was going to give them a tremendous victory. And boy did he! We were honored to be at their tenth and final yard sale. I quickly became the mouthpiece, greeting every single customer, telling them why the sale was so important, and pointing out the proud parents who would love to tell them all about their son, whose name and stats they had, but who they hadn’t yet met. God blessed them with their most successful yard sale total that day, and a donation toward their puzzle fundraiser as well. Checks came in the mail, and other donations were made directly to their adoption agency. Bedroom furniture literally appeared on their lawn a couple weeks later, and then at the eleventh hour, a $7,500.00 adoption grant and a $5,000.00 adoption loan materialized, allowing them to book a flight to Ethiopia two days later. And that wasn’t all! The Ethiopian courts stayed open two weeks late into the rainy season to clear the waiting families; their vaccinations were miraculously covered by insurance, saving them $2,000.00, and the US Embassy agreed to expedite their son’s case due to medical issues, so they only had to travel once instead of twice, and it goes on and on. . . They are with him in Addis Ababa now. He is legally their son, and in just another week or two, they will bring him home! What a God and what a victory! Talk about something that will strengthen your heart and your soul!!! As for us, I’ve had a couple of little things happen that have lifted my spirits and continue to bring joy to my own heart and soul every time I think of them. My sister-in-law (also adopting currently), sent me a necklace she bought as an adoption fundraiser from someone else. It’s a wire nest with four eggs in it, to remind me that I have four eggs in my nest, no matter how long it takes to bring the fourth one home. I wear it a lot, and I think of her “heart and soul” gift and our baby, and it gives me hope. Another day, my grandma sent a box to me containing a black, sparkly high-heeled shoe piggy bank in which she had saved $11.00 worth of quarters for our adoption. It is sitting on my mantle now, stuffed full of change, and reminding me again of someone else who cares about our daughter and who is praying and working to bring her home. Steve and I officially crossed the $7,000.00 mark in our own fundraising. We are getting ever closer to being ready to sign on with an agency and to start the all-important home study. Encouraged by Meggann, I made a phone call to a different agency than I had talked to before, and found out that I don’t have to wait one or two additional years due to the thyroid surgery from December, and even contacted a specific orphanage on our behalf to see if they would be willing to work with us due to my medical history, particularly the blindness. (That is a particularly tricky obstacle.) They were, and while we have not officially signed on yet or declared that country to be our ultimate destination, I think we’re getting a lot closer to it. And that in itself is a wonderful thing. I have agonized over the decision of which agency to go with, which country to adopt from, and what, if any, special needs we would be willing to take on. We continue to pray in all of these areas, but with a new and stronger confidence that God is with us, guiding our steps, even the ones up the cliffs of fundraising and fear, and that he will send the heart and soul warriors we need just at the moment we need them, to turn this adventure into another one of his victories! We are not fundraising in August, aside from continuing to seek buyers on-line or in consignment shops for some donated furniture and household items that we didn’t sell at the yard sale. Additionally, I don’t anticipate doing a great deal of fundraising in September, since these are the months when school fundraising is in high gear and everyone is stressed out and stretched thin! We are, however, preparing for what’s coming in October, November, and December, and gratefully accepting any opportunities to help push that dollar number a little higher. I hope to be ready to start the home study by the end of the year and I look forward to telling you about the victories and the battles along the way! “Give thanks to the Lord. His love endures forever!”