We've Been Matched!! To God be the Glory!

We have BIG news!

We have been matched with TWINS from AFRICA! HA! Only God knew... :-).

We got an email from a missionary at the orphanage on Wednesday saying there are twins waiting for us! (Totally not expecting this..!) A boy and a girl, about 5 months old. PRAISE OUR GREAT GOD! We were all home, as we got the email before Nathan left for work. (So early....!) Thankfully, at the orphanage, they are 5 hours ahead, so the news was waiting for us when we woke up. We read it together and were just overwhelmed with excitement!

We honestly have no other details about them.  However, a good friend is leaving THIS SUNDAY to go get her little girl from the same orphanage! We were super excited to find out before she left. Now, Lord willing, she gets to take pictures AND video (!) of our babies!! She will hold them and tell them we love them and are coming for them! ALSO, we (very) quickly, mailed her two "stuffed-animal-blankies" with our voices on the inside to take with her and give to them. When the bear's noses are pressed, there is a message with all three of our voices!! This way they can get to know the sound of their family until we can get to them. :)

For those of you who might wonder, we bought the blanket-animals and then went to Build-a-Bear to get a "record-able-sound" to put inside of them. We had 10 seconds to record and this is what we said, "(Nathan) This is your daddy! (Kimberly) This is your mommy! (C) This is your sister! (Nathan) We love you (Kimberly) and can't wait to meet you (C) one day!" We had SO. MUCH. FUN. recording it!

Here are pics of C with them:

Many of our friends and family have asked, "What's next!?"

Here's a quick low-down:

The lawyer in Africa will begin all the paperwork for the twins (gathering birth certificates, death certificates (if applicable), signatures of any living family members, health tests from the doctor, etc) and file that, along with our paperwork in the courts over there. Once we "pass court," the babies will *officially* be ours. At this point, they will get new birth certificates with the "Neely" name on them and passports with their new names. An EXCITING day that will be!

Next, the paperwork will be mailed to our house. Upon receiving it, we will *immediately* =) scan it and send it to get translated into English.

Once we get the translations, off the paperwork will go to USCIS and AL DHR for US/State approval.  When we get their approvals, the information will be sent to the US Embassy in Africa and we can make Embassy appointments. Once we have the appointments, we BOOK FLIGHTS AND TRAVEL!

There is no possible way to know how long this process will take, but it can take as little as 3 months (VERY unlikely) or as long as... well, our guess is 6 or 7 months.

I would love to share more, but I am currently being "dressed up" by a very active 3 year old who *desperately* needs a playmate right now. Haha!

We're so excited and praising God! Praise God with us! To Him be the Glory!

Quick prayer requests:

*The courts will STAY OPEN in Africa (as the government is very, very "shaky" right now..) and our paperwork can be processed quickly.
*DHR will be easier to work with than they were with our friend.
*Our hearts will be content and we will "worship while we wait!"
*Our babies' health, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

THANK you, friends and family for praying for us, being excited with us, and praising our GREAT GOD.

By His Grace,

Kimberly

Gearing Up for Change

...[He] rules by His might forever, [His] eyes keep watch on the nations. Psalm 66:7b

I've been pondering this blog post for a while- as some things have "changed," and others are still in "limbo." I feel as if I need to have an update to give, instead of saying, "still waiting.........."

So the update is: We're still waiting! Ha. But in all seriousness, we have had one semi-change.  We heard from Africa recently that, though they have many kids at the orphanage, the families are not willing to give them up for adoption as of now. [There has to be signatures and statements of living parents and/or death certificates of parents in order to adopt a child. If both parents are not living, extended family members must give their consent by way of signature and statement.] What blows my little mind in regards to this, is that because there ARE so many children (100+), I would think we should be able to find at least one who's family would "sign off" to allow them to be adopted, and two if possible! However, so far this is not the case.  Of course, I fully believe it's God's sovereignty holding these family member's "yeses."  This is all going to happen in His timing and the child/children we will adopt will be perfectly and distinctly placed into our family.

Once we heard word that the missionaries are having a hard time finding a match for us (we turned our "letter" into them one year ago this month), we decided to put in our application and send our homestudy, etc to a local agency in Alabama. This was a tough decision, in a way, as we have such a heart for the nations.  It was hard because we know there are many children who go to sleep in orphanages night after night with no mommmies and daddies to tuck them in, who have one set of clothing, few, if any toys, and sleep in rooms with many other children or babies.  Of course, there are many orphanages with great workers who share Christ with these children, love them, comfort them when they cry, however the ratio of workers to children just cannot provide adequate love and comfort to each child. (Of course, we trust God to bring families to these children to be His hands and feet, or comfort them and love on them in supernatural ways that He is clearly capable of.) So it just made sense to us to go get one (then two!) of these children.  They are there, many in need, many waiting for a family.

However, we had no idea it would be this hard, no idea of the doors God might open, and then close.

So, we are currently in "limbo" as we have no idea if the situation in Africa will change in the near future or if the agency in Alabama will have a child for us soon either. What I do know is that God has given both Nathan and I a complete peace about the domestic agency, while not giving us a peace about shutting any doors in Africa.

If I can be completely raw here, this is a bit unnerving to me to say the least. (AKA, a perfect opportunity to "work my faith muscle." Haha)  The domestic adoption, if it works out would cost $22k+ and the Africa adoption, travel and all would cost about $18k+ (for two kids). I do not foresee (though God owns it all!) us having enough money to do both. Also, I have absolutely no idea how to plan, how much money to raise, or which to be excited about. But, what I do know is that God will completely take care of us and provide for all of our needs right on time. He has never left us, nor will He now.

The timeline for the domestic adoption looks to be from about 3 months up to a year from now. We will not know if we've been chosen by a birth mom, or anything until we get a phone call to come pick the baby up.  This usually happens 5 days after the baby is born because in AL, the birth parents have 5 days to change their minds.  The agency we are working with chooses to not let the adoptive parents know until they are sure the child is "adoptable."  Therefore, we would get a phone call one day (any day) and would drop everything, travel to the agency and pick up our new baby! Exciting, yet a bit crazy for me, as I'm a big planner. Haha.

There isn't, nor has there ever been a timeline for the Africa adoption.  We could get an email any day- on. However, what is important to note here, is that our homestudy and paperwork will expire in June of next year. It will be a big pain to deal with updating it, as everything will have to go back through two systems, USCIS and AL DHR. No fun, I tell you, no fun! Oh and not to mention the money that would go into this.  We prefer to not have to do this, however, if we have children waiting for us, we will do everything humanly possible to get to them!

All this to say, I feel confident (*Though feelings are not everything! God could have other plans..) that we are within months of bringing a child/children into our home to love.  Therefore, (especially due to the chance of a domestic phone call at any time) we are "gearing up," making sure we are stocked and ready for a baby.  Our daughter is almost 4, so it's been a while and it's amazing how much I have forgotten! Diapers, bottles,... what else?!

I know that a domestic adoption can seem to be a bit of a drastic change from what we've been moving towards for the past year and a half, but our hearts are still for the nations, and always will be. All the nations- including America. It's the heart of our Father, and now ours, as He promises we are being sanctified daily.  We will be grateful if one day He sends us overseas to share the gospel with those who haven't heard, or encourage and help to support our brothers and sisters, or to adopt. If and when that will happen, we do not know, but for now, we will, by His grace, abide.

I am thankful that His eyes are keeping watch on the nations! I am thankful that He is God and I am not. We get to trust that He's watching over all the little ones in orphanages.  And we get to trust that, in this season, we may not be the hands and feet He chooses to hold, love on them, and bring them home.  We get to trust that His ways are perfect.

Here we are, hands open. God, it's Your move. Show us, lead us.

He will.

Thank YOU for being apart of this journey. We could never fully express our gratitude for your giving, your prayers, and your love.

Please pray with us and hope with us... for all the waiting children... and the GLORY OF GOD.

With a heavy, but satisfied, heart,

Kimberly, for the Neelys