Itinerary!

Hello everyone!

We are packing/cleaning/baby proofing/etc to get ready to travel! We are getting excited, overwhelmed, and a little nervous :).  We know many of you will be praying for us along the way, so we wanted to share our itinerary with you. Also, we welcome you to come to the airport to meet us when we get home! We are asking that everyone meet close to the front desk on the lower level of the Huntsville airport around 9am on Thursday, June 13th. Our flight should land about 8:52am.

Our plans for each day are as follows:

THURSDAY (June 6) : Leave the US!

FRIDAY (June 7): Change planes in Senegal, fly to Guinea Bissau, and travel to the orphanage to MEET OUR BABIES!!

SATURDAY (June 8): Do a few errands in town, including going to the local market. Meet the babies biological family at their village.

SUNDAY (June 9): Spend time at the orphanage. Fly to Senegal tonight. Crash in a local hotel.

MONDAY (June 10): Go to the doctor first thing (requirement for the US Embassy to issue visas). Go to a guesthouse where we will stay the remainder of our time in Senegal.

TUESDAY (June 11): US Embassy appointment. **Please pray we will find favor with them and they will quickly issue visas for the babies so we can catch our flight out the following night.**

WEDNESDAY (June 12): Prayerfully pick up the babies visas to enter the US. (Leave tonight H'ville time)

THURSDAY (June 13): Eaarrrllllyyyy morning we will get on a plane to the US! Arrive in US and hop on another plane. Arrive in HUNTSVILLE, see our beautiful princess, and be together for the first time as a FAMILY OF FIVE!! I imagine we'll be exhausted, but super excited to see our family and friends that await us! Have a praise Jesus dance with loved ones in the airport. :) Head home to crash-- haha.

Please pray for us as we travel, encounter the missionaries and birth family, and as we are questioned and examined at the U.S. Embassy. Please pray for safe travels and for our beautiful princess who will be away from both of her parents for the longest time she's ever had to be. (And, let's be honest, please pray for our mommy and daddy hearts as well!) Pray we will be joyful and a blessing to those we come in contact with. 

Thank you, always, for all your giving, prayers, and support you've offered to us the past two years. IT'S FINALLY TIME!

In His Grace,

Kimberly

Nursery Pictures While We Wait

"Then Joshua said to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.'" Joshua 3:5

We have most definitely seen the Lord do wonders among us! He has provided, now, over $27,000 for us to go get these precious little ones and love them with His hands and feet. He has moved "mountains" throughout this process and now, as we wait for the last few hurdles, we would love to share some pictures of the room (we are *almost* finished with) these little ones will come home to.  We hope they know they are treasured first and foremost by their Heavenly Father, and after, by us.  We love you, Judah and Jewel!!

Judah's side!

This print is hanging over his bed. The prints were all done SO well by Katie Rhoads over at her Etsy shop,

  The Educated Owl.  She did an amazing job! Thanks, Katie!!

Judah-man's little bunny that was given to him!

Jewel's side!

Her sweet baby dolls:

The prints hanging over the changing table are below. Hanging, also, are the first pics of the babies we got from the orphanage.

Please excuse the terrible quality of this picture, as it was taken of the computer screen :).

Where they will be rocked to sleep.. hopefully! :)

Caitlyn painted this picture for their room!! We think she did a great job!

I thought I'd also show our cloth diaper stash.. why not??

Here are the blankets **in progress** I'm making them.  I still have to put the satin on the backs and lining. It'll happen.. one day.

Lastly, why not bust up the fairy tale.. here's what the room looks like today! We're almost all packed!!

Praises and Prayer Requests:

Praising God that we were APPROVED by SDHR in Alabama!! Wahhooooo! This was a huge hurdle!

USCIS, on the other hand, requested more information (by phone) and we gave them what we had. We are not sure if it will be sufficient. We found out today that a decision has been made, but that we will find out via mail! SNAIL MAIL. That's okay.. for whatever reason, waiting on God is the theme and it's a good one. We will choose to worship while we wait.  We should receive the letter Friday, Saturday, or Tuesday. It could be one of two things: a formal request for additional information or APPROVAL. We are praying for the latter. It could take some time to get the information they are requesting, but if we have to do it, we have to do it. And we will wait again. Please pray with us (and for us)!

Please, also, pray that there will be room on the planes we're hoping for and rooms available at the guesthouse we've been in contact with for whenever we receive word that we're approved (if we are approved).

Thanks again, pray warriors and supporters! We love you and thank you for walking this journey with us!

To God be the Glory,

Kimberly

Happy Birthday Judah and Jewel!!!

"For you formed my inward parts: you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:13-16

Today is Judah and Jewel's 1st Birthday!

Happy Birthday, sweet babies! We love you SO much and can't wait to celebrate with you when we get to you!! Most of all, sweet ones, Jesus loves you and is with you right now and will never leave you nor forsake you. His love is the sweetest of all..

Here are some ways you have been celebrated today:

Caitlyn made you a sign!!

A pink balloon for Jewel and blue for Judah! We are "sending" them to you! :)

From our sweet, sweet friends, Mrs. Angela, Kylin, Jesualdo, and Nacssa (and Mr. Jimmy). 

They sent a Happy Birthday wish and celebration to you from Florida!! Thanks, friends!

We have been waiting and treasuring you both from afar. We have loved (and grieved) spending your past year with you through pictures. We can't wait to spend the next ones with you in our home all together.  Thank you, Lord, for bringing us together and making us a family!

Here are some highlights from getting to know you via email the past year:

 These are the pictures we saw the first time we laid eyes on you:

11.1.12

Maria Jewel Neely & Mario Judah Neely 

You were exactly 6 months old and PRECIOUS.

The bears in the background are the ones we sent with our friend, 

Grace when she traveled to pick up precious Elda. Thanks, Grace!

These next pictures are from our dear friends, Angela & Jimmy, about four weeks later

when they were there to pick up their two boys:

11.28.12

About 7 months old and growing so much!

 12.5.12

You officially became Neelys!!

These were taken by our sweet missionary friend in Bissau last month:

4.10.13

About 11 months old. You've both grown SO much!!

You each are so beautiful!

We are so thankful and praise God for you! We are thankful that He kept you, that He led us to you, and that He will be glorified through your stories. We can't wait to love on you and bring you home. We pray for you many times every day and love you both SO MUCH.

WE'LL SEE YOU SOON!!

Love,

Daddy, Mommy, and Big Sister Caitlyn

 "I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope." Psalm 130:5

PAPERS and Spiritual Warfare!!

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow..."

We are doing "praise dances" over in the Neely house because, after MUCH craziness, the original adoption papers FINALLY arrived at our house yesterday evening at about 5:45pm! Hallelujah! We are overwhelmed by the goodness of God.  I wanted to give the DHL lady a huge hug when I saw her. Haha! As soon as the truck pulled up, I yelled, "DHL is here!!!!" and ran to get my camera.  We all three met her at the door with camera in hand. I think she was very surprised, needless to say.

We were a *little* excited! :)

Getting the papers here was some kind of crazy. I finally just called it what I truly believe it was- spiritual warfare!  It would take much time to go through every detail, but to sum it up, first the package was delayed an entire day because of "clearance" (we are guessing it was because of the current political situation between the US and Guinea Bissau), then it was sent to the wrong facility, then they "lost" it (and let me tell you, at this point I had talked to about 7 different people at DHL and I finally "lost it!!"), we later found out it had gotten a new tracking number and it was never entered into the system, THEN after it was finally on the truck the driver couldn't find our address. UN-REAL. It took 8 days in all when it should have taken 3 or 4. I cleared my schedule day after day since this paperwork was irreplaceable and had to be signed for upon arrival. 8 days doesn't seem that long of a wait, but when we'd been waiting 6 months, we were so close, and were tracking the package every hour+, along with talking to a total of 12 DHL employees, I just about went crazy!!!!

I have to admit that I actually cried on the phone with a DHL supervisor (!) when they told me they could not locate my package. I asked to talk to the CEO, told them children's lives were at stake (a little dramatic, eh?), and said I was not getting off the phone until someone told me exactly where my package was. From now on, I know that fighting for your child (against the schemes of the Devil and more) will sometimes make you see a side of yourself that you didn't know existed!! Haha. Praise God He is a redeeming and gracious God!  DHL probably has my number tagged and draws straws for whoever has to answer my call!!

We have sent the papers off to be translated and once we get them back (5ish days), we will overnight a package to USCIS and email DHR. As soon as we're approved, we make an Embassy appointment and TRAVEL to get our babies!!!

A few prayer requests:

1) Please pray that the translator translates the papers correctly and in a timely manner.
2) Please pray that USCIS and DHR approve us without needing any further information.
3) Please pray that the plane ticket prices miraculously go down (as it will cost more than we expected due to summer time) or God provides in a different way.
4) It would be AMAZING if we could travel before June 12, as this is when our english speaking missionary contact is leaving the country.  We will definitely be cutting it close!
5) The current political situation between Guinea Bissau and the U.S. resolves (or at least calms down). This will, of course, help the safety of the people in Guinea Bissau, as well as possibly help our trip to be a bit less of a dangerous one. (We know God is always with us!!)
6) Please continue to pray for the hearts of Judah, Jewel, and us as we will meet soon. Pray He will prepare all of our hearts for such a huge change. Pray we will love each other with a selfless love.

Thank you so much for your support! We love you all.

By His Grace,

Kimberly

A Response to the Criticism of "The Christian Adoption and Orphan Care Movement"

I want to begin by saying I usually do not enter into debates as they tend to not end with.. how do I say it... much fruit. However, today, I was met with something I feel I cannot be quiet about. In light of the bible and eternity, I do not believe what I have to say matters all that much; but oh how my heart hurts for those that have adopted or know that God has called them to do so. It also hurts for true orphans who have no family to care for them.  I cannot imagine being silent when friends and family are possibly confused with the uprising criticism of the "Christian adoption and orphan care movement."  There is much I can say, but I will direct to Jesus, the bible, and those who have done far more research than I have. I hope and pray it encourages those of us who know in the depths of our hearts that God has chosen us to love and care for the fatherless.


Each time we are critiqued, I believe it is an avenue for us to look at our lives/hearts and examine them. I believe we can take the critiques to the Father and ask Him hard questions about our hearts. We can dive into the Word and re-examine what we have learned. And, lastly, talk it all over with those who care for us. I have done this today regarding adoption, the movement of adoption, and my calling to adopt.

I want to post this article as it says so much of what I would say in response to the recent critiques of this "movement." I think this response (written in 2011 about a particular article, but still holds true today) is very well written and encouraging to true believers who have a call on their lives to adopt.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/aprilweb-only/adoptioncrusade.html?paging=off

I like this quote from the article:

"Christians must always pair compassion with knowledge in caring for orphans, and even an article like "The Evangelical Adoption Crusade" [or book, etc on this subject] is an important means for weighing how best to do so. But it provides no excuse to ignore the cry of the orphan. The world is hurting, and to address this hurt wisely will always come with difficult questions. But we dare not turn from sacrifice and hard decisions and return to comfortable homes and lives simply because the cost and complexity are too great. That was never Jesus' way—and it must not be ours."

I also encourage myself and other adoptive families to know that none of the corruption of adoption is outside of the hand of God. He can turn the heart of any king (Prov 21:1) wherever He so chooses. He can also turn the heart of any corrupt agency/lawyer/middle man, etc. as well. These children (even when trafficked) that have been placed in homes were not taken out of God's hand. Even though we do not understand why He allows the things He allows, or understand all of His ways, we must hold to the truth that He is sovereign.  Nothing can happen without His allowing. Nothing.

The things some agencies and people do in the adoption world are horrific. But our God is King over it all. There is a reason each adopted kid has his or her story, came from where they came from, grew in the womb of whom they grew in, and ended up in the country and home they are now.

I am very encouraged by Joseph's words to his brothers and continue to remember them in my heart, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good..." (Gen 50:20).  He works all things together for our good and His glory. I take an incredible amount of comfort in His sovereignty. He opens and closes the womb, He opens and closes doors for each adoption. I believe it with all of my heart.

I am praying for all of those whom God is truly calling to adopt children who have no family or who's families refuse to care for them. I am praying against confusion for adopting families and praying for specific direction. I am praying for each kid who has been adopted, that God will draw their hearts to Himself and they will receive comfort in the only Father who will never abandon them. I pray for every family who has adopted. Lastly, I will continue to pray against corruption in this "adoption movement."

I am trusting and resting in the arms of a sovereign God, as there is no other place for me to receive true comfort. His is so good.

Kimberly

One Paper Away

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning..." James 2:17

 "..A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.." John 3:27

So many of you have been texting/emailing/asking on Facebook, etc about where we are in the process. I wonder why??? I am CONSTANTLY updating this blog.. just look at the last time I wrote. ;-)  Honestly, I wish I could say we have new and exciting news, however, we aren't much further in the process than we were the last time I wrote.

One exciting thing that has happened is that we passed court. Hooray! We didn't find out until months after, but we officially passed court on December 5, 2012. This means Judah and Jewel are officially Neelys! We are so thankful and excited that we have two more children. Truly it is a blessing from God!

So many ask, "If they are officially Neelys, why can't you bring them home??" Oh how I wish this was how it worked! To make a long story short, there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be filed with the US government (USCIS) and the state of Alabama (DHR) in order to bring them into the country. Without it, they cannot approve the babies to be brought onto US soil.

The paperwork has been in the hands of the missionaries at the orphanage for a couple of months now, however, we are missing one document. ONE DOCUMENT.

As soon as the lawyer (in Africa) brings this document to the orphanage, the package of papers will be mailed to us.  It will take about 5 days to get here and as soon as we have it translated, we can file with the US government and the state of AL. Once they approve it, we travel!

We assumed this would have been in our hands back in February, early March. And that we would be traveling by now. Oh how our plans are so different from God's sometimes.

In my flesh, it is so easy to lash out and say,

"Really?! One document??! ONE DOCUMENT IS BETWEEN US AND OUR BABIES?!"

It is so easy to grovel and complain in what I would think would be a worthy and deserved response to this looooooong and frustrating waiting period. It would be so easy to say to God, "Haven't you heard my cries to you? Don't you see us, more importantly, don't you see the babies lying in those cribs hour after hour? Waiting? Sometimes crying themselves to sleep? MY babies? Alone. Don't you see?!"

Then by God's sweet grace, He hears my cry, comforts me, and then gently reminds me that His plans are best. His timing is best. He will never leave me nor forsake me. He is El Roi, "the God who sees." He sees me, them, our family, just as He saw the Israelites in all their turmoil in Egypt (Ex 3:7). And just as he heard their cry, He hears ours. And just as He chose to wait to deliver the Israelites, so He has chosen with us.

It is not one document holding us from our babies. It's Him. 

He is sovereign. He is God. He wrote the story. It is for His glory. We are His. He is good and He loves us.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose" Romans 8:28

I need to be reminded of this daily. Hourly. Minute by minute.

Thank you, Lord, for your goodness. Thank you that it is not all about me. (Oh the mess we would be in if it were!) Thank you that it is not all about the babies. Thank you that is is all about you and your glory. And thank you for loving us in the midst and calling us according to your purpose.

Here are the next steps:

1) Lawyer in Africa brings the last needed document to the orphanage.
2) Missionaries go to DHL and mail the package to us.
3) We receive package 4-5 days later.
4) We have documents translated.
5) We receive translated documents 3-5 days later.
6) We overnight package of translated documents to USCIS.
7) We email translated documents to our social worker to send to AL DHR.
8) WAIT (yes, again) for approval. The wait time can be 10-90 days. (We expect somewhere around 40 days.)
9) Get letter saying we are APPROVED!
10) Wait until the approval reaches the US Embassy in Dakar, Senegal. (about 10 days)
11) Make Embassy Appointment on the next available Tuesday. (They only do appointments on Tuesdays)
12) Travel the Wednesday before our appointment to pick up babies from Guinea Bissau and take to appointment in Dakar.
13) Get visas and COME HOME!!

Please pray God's will over all these steps and that our hearts will continue to be drawn to rely on Him and Him alone. Please pray against fear and anxiety. Please pray our babies' hearts will be ready to meet us, and our hearts to meet them.

Thank you, as always, for all your support! We love each of you and praise God for you!

By His Grace,

Kimberly

PS: This truly deserves a blog post of it's own, but we have officially raised over $25,000!!! Praise be to God Most High! He will ALWAYS provide if He has called you, my friends. ALWAYS.

And They Were Called...

"For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.  My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them." Psalm 139:13-16 (emphasis mine)

As I sit here, thinking of how God led us to the names of these precious babies, I am in awe that He is concerned with every detail of our lives. He is a great God who designed and wrote our stories before the foundations of the world, yet He cares for us in each moment of each day.

I have wrestled whether or not to share the names that the twins' biological family gave to each of them, and have decided against it, as to keep their identity hidden until they officially become Neelys. We want you to know that we kept these names and they will come first. Therefore, the names the Lord led us to give them will be their middle names, officially, but they will likely be called by them.

When we found out we were matched with twins, a boy and a girl, we were overjoyed and shocked and super excited! Honestly, it wasn't for a few days until we really started discussing/praying about names for them. We didn't know their names, nor did we have pictures, and that was reason enough for us to wait.  However, once we saw them and learned their names, we began talking among the three of us, throwing out different names we all liked.  In some ways, this is a great way to "narrow down a list.." find out which names the other parent (and kid, to a degree) doesn't like and they get crossed off. I was hoping this would lead us to a small list of boy names and girl names that we each liked and could begin praying about. Well, our list of boy names had 6 or 7 names on it, but our list of girl names had 1 name. Haha. Clearly, this time we agreed on many more boy names than girl names!

For the next few days, we thought about them and prayed about them. Had our 3 year old daughter been a boy, Nathan and I both agreed he would be named "Josiah." We've always loved that name because of who Josiah was. However, neither of us felt Josiah was the appropriate name for this little boy. We were shocked a bit after having talked about this name through the years, but I thought that it was pretty neat that we felt the same way.

In further discussing, we found we both really liked the name Judah for our son. So, I began praying that God would lead us to scripture or meaning for Judah that would speak to our heart something about Him and this precious boy. It took a few days, but during a Scripture reading at church, Isaiah 40 was read and one specific verse jumped out at me. Verse 9 says, "O Zion, You who bring good tidings, Get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, You who bring good tidings, Lift up your voice with strength, Lift it up, be not afraid; Say to the cities of Judah, 'Behold your God!'" My heart leaped as my prayer for this little boy is that one day, he will passionately follow God and will return to his "city" and say to them, "Behold your God!" Oh how I long for the people of Guinea Bissau to know Him and walk in His ways. This verse was precious to me, and a great conformation of the name God was to have us name him: Judah.

As for our daughter, we all three liked one certain name. However, after some thought and prayer, it didn't quite "settle" right, so I began praying specifically for God to lead us in another direction. A few days went by and still no direction.  Then, we got an email from the missionary at the orphanage asking for the names that we would like on their birth certificates. I panic-ed *a little* and told Nathan right away. We both were searching the internet (him at work, me at home) for girl names in hopes that something would stick out to us.

That morning during breakfast, I read Psalm 40. Verse 8 jumped out to me; it says, "I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart." I prayed this for her and noticed the word, delight. I wondered if there was a pretty girls name meaning "delight." I did, yet another, internet search. Nothing jumped out at me.  SO... alas, I typed in, once again, "biblical girl names." I scrolled alphabetically through all these names for awhile and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw "meaning: delight." I looked next to it and the name written was Jewel. Precious. Next to me was my bible. I quickly turned to the concordance and found "jewel." There were two references. One was Malachi 3:17. It reads, "They shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him." "Jewels," here, literally means "special treasure."  Precious, once again. It was very clear to me in that moment.. her name will be, Jewel. This verse just grabs deep down in my bones every time I read it.. there is so much there. God is talking about His people. I pray that Jewel will be His. That she will know Him. She is a special treasure and delight. God saved her life and placed her in this orphanage. There is even more that has been confirmed to me (that I may get to share on this blog one day) concerning this verse and her situation. God is good. He led us and we are grateful.

What is funny to me is that their names both start with "J" and actually sound a bit similar. We had no necessary intentions of this, God just led.  I think it's pretty neat.

Judah and Jewel.

Please join us in praying for them, by name.

As always, thank you for loving us.

In Him,

Kimberly