Prayer Warriors

Hey guys, I need some real prayer warriors.  I have a dear friend who is trying (and has for a LONG LONG time now) to adopt a little girl.  This child was abandoned by her family and resides in a Christian orphanage.  

You all know that Ray and I have been muddling through numerous adoption problems -- on of which is that Guatemala is changing its adoption structure.  One casualty in this transition is that all children who were abandoned are stuck in the system.  The Guatemalan Law System is not approving abandonment decrees and therefore the children and their would-be, and loving, parents in the States are stuck waiting.  

Our adoption has already taken well over a year, and my friend, Emily and her husband Phil, have been waiting that long just to START the process.  If you feel willing, please pray that God moves the hearts of those in charge so that these children can come to their forever homes. Please pray that the families here will find comfort in God's grace, and see God's powerful hand move mountains.  Your prayers are much-needed.

Love,

Kelli

No news

is good news?  Well, I hope so.  No news yet on the birth certificates, but I'm going to call Guatemala tomorrow if we don't hear anything today.  Somehow this part of the waiting is the hardest yet (and that says something!)  A year and two months so far.  I am not bearing an elephant!  This needs to happen faster!

Missing a Guatemalan Spring

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Don't Worry

Teo and Yojanna, who have been working diligently on our case in Guatemala, both have this way of saying, "Don't worry!" and even though you still want to worry, it's really comforting to hear!  Teo is in the States right now, and I called Yojanna just to make sure that they were getting paid by our bum agency, and she said that she didn't know, really.  Teo is the only one who would know, but she did say they were working on our case and that the birth certificates should be finished in the next week or so!  YAY!  She invited me to call back on Monday or Tuesday and check in.  

So it is good news.  Things are still proceeding, which we wanted to make sure was happening.  Yojanna was super-nice to talk to on the phone, and she was very reassuring.  I hope Teo is getting settled well in the States.

Other good news is that since our agency was too lame to make Hague Accreditations, they are officially out of the adoption business as soon as they finish their current cases!  Makes you want to do a little dance, doesn't it!?  The funny thing is how we always feel like WE need to be the ones to fix things, and God really is bigger than we think.

Whoooo hooooooo!

Love Love Love

It won't be long now!!  We love you both, Cory & Brittiny!

Quick adoption news

Our agency has undergone some changes, moving from Orlando to Ocala, FL.  It appears they've done some restructuring and Ray and I are investigating a bit, as they seem to be announcing only some basic information that would lead you to believe all is well, but we think there's more to the story.  We'll keep you posted.  The biggest issue is still financially, as we want to make sure our agency is paying our facilitator and his employees, so that our case can continue.  It's hard because even though the boys are legally ours, we still cannot bring them home until we have their new passports and meet requirements of the US Embassy.  We're so close and still so far away in a lot of ways.    Anyway, we'll post more when we find out the low-down on the agency.

Wedding Bliss On the Horizon

In a few short weeks, my baby brother will finally get to say "I do" to the love of his life, and I'll get a second sister! How fun is that?! Today we had a fantastic afternoon SHOWERING Brittiny with love before the big day. Lots of excitement is in the air!! Below is a fun shot of Brittiny and her sis, Tress who threw the shower and made some DIVINE food for the day. More fun photos of the shower at my personal site. Click HERE!

Brittiny and Tress (sis & shower hostess)

Here's to wedding bliss, Brittiny and Cory!

More on Our Happy News

Here's a photo of the house we're going to try to buy. I just thought I'd let everyone have a visual. Best things about the house?
- Ray's children would have a place to stay if they ever wanted it.
- The boys could have their own rooms should they want it.
- They'd be in a neighborhood with children their age.
- I'd be in a neighborhood with gals my age.
- Ray has a couple buddies in that neighborhood.
- There are beautiful views from this house as it's like the king of the mountain.
- It's the perfect amount of roominess, without feeling like any part of the house is wasted or useless.

"The Current House Virtual Tour" -- If you click on this link, you can see the virtual tour of our current house. Looks fancy, huh? We've already had lots of realtors call and one family we know want to take a tour. The open house is this Sunday! Whoo hooo!

Life is a little crazy right now, but it's a lot of good things that are filling the spare moments. Meanwhile, we are so excited about the boys coming and the fact that they are really and truly ours now. Every time I go to the store, I grab a couple of clothes or things for them. It's really really happy. I'm ready for some more news, though I think it'll be another week before that happens. Ray and I are estimating that the last few steps will take a couple of weeks apiece, and that still means there could be set backs that make it take longer. We'll keep you posted. Thanks for all the love you sent over our big news this week!

News! News! The Best News Yet!

This week has been full of news! We realized when we were in Guatemala a couple of weeks ago that Daniel and Mateo would need more room than our patio home would provide, so we made an offer on a home in Salem on Tuesday. The offer is subject to the sale of our present house. On Wednesday, we heard that our offer was accepted subject to the owner of the new house looking at our house to make sure it would sell.

ON THURSDAY, WE GOT THE BIG CALL! TEO CALLED TO SAY WE ARE OUT OF PGN!!!

There are three big steps yet:

1. A new birth certificate has to be made for the boys listing Ray and me as the parents of Daniel and Mateo.
2. The second DNA test must be performed to show that the boys are the same boys who started the adoption process.
3. We will get our Pink Slip. This is the request for us to travel to Guatemala for two days of appointments at the Embassy, followed by BRINGING THE BOYS HOME!

On Friday, the builder of the new home toured our house and accepted our contract. Then we signed the papers, and our house is now on the market!

Then we ran out the door to Greensboro for one of Ray's conferences.

More to come later.

We thank God for all the blesses he showers on us each day!

MLK Quote

I read this today.

Our lives begin to end
the day we become silent
about the things that matter.
-- Martin L. King Jr.

I saw a commercial about energy efficient kitchen appliances, and a woman said (and I paraphrase), "What we find is that when a person changes a regular light bulb for one that's energy efficient, essentially they are making a change in the way they think."

What I would love to do is to make a change in the way my friends and family think about the way they give. Along the margin of my website are links to great causes. Pick one and click on the picture. Some are SO SIMPLE -- such as the Hunger Site, where if you click the yellow button, sponsors for the website actually donate 1 cup of food for people in poverty. WOW. It's absolutely free.

Not only that, but if you visit my friend's webpage, she features numerous programs and sites where you can buy something, but part of your money goes towards a cause. What a great way to give birthday presents! It's helping more than one person at a time.Meanwhile, I just have a longing in my heart to start some campaign or non-profit or business that changes lives. I am bursting with ideas, but I'd love to hear what ideas you have. If you have any thoughts, please let me know!

Great News

No, we have had any news about the adoption -- you'll be the first to know! But, I did want to share that our church and some my fabulous "Love Moore" readers have sponsored SIX children for school in Guatemala. I cannot believe the outpouring. This is a total of $840!! I know you all have heard me go on and on about this, but not everyone in Guatemala speaks Spanish. Learning Spanish, being able to sign your name, read forms, stand a little taller -- those gifts are life-changing. Right now 30% of Guatemalas are illiterate. We can change that. If you get a chance, check out my other website, see the faces of the kids, read their stories, post a comment or two. This is incredible. (Just click of the picture).

The Cross

It's pretty amazing how we can all share the same faith and still find such creative ways to share and express that faith. In Guatemala, outside a beautiful Catholic Church was this cross. And I'll explain. Of course in the center is the crown of thorns that Jesus wore when he was crucified. The hand above it is to remember the hands and feet that were pierced. Below the crown are dice that represent those who gambled for Christ's clothes, and there are the three nails to remind us of how he died. There is a weight at the bottom that represents how Jesus' death broke the burden of working for salvation, and the tools along the horizontal beam remind us that Jesus was a simple man as we are simple. He was a carpenter. And he was the King. And he remains our Savior. God bless you today.

Funny Unshared-So-Far Pictures from Guatemala

So these were some of the many photos I did not post during the trip to Guatemala, but are pretty humorous to me for a number of reasons. Mostly, I just wish you all could have gone with us on our trip! I suppose soon the boys will be here and will bring a little bit of Guatemala to the US. Anyway, I hope you enjoy these photos like I do.

This photo below makes me laugh so much because my dear Daniel really like bathroom wipes! Every time he went to the bathroom, Ray would give him a wipe as a reward and he would wash his hands with it. It was so funny. We had to keep these up high in the bedroom so that the boys didn't pull them all out like one might unravel toilet paper.


Another Daniel moment: he kept throwing his ball in the pool, but was afraid to go in the water, so he'd throw it and I would hold him upside down so he could reach the ball himself! It was so crazy and a big relief once he got over his pool phobia. :)
Again, Daniel. Mateo is so sweet that he just doesn't do all this goofy stuff! Anyway, I snapped this picture and it just cracks me up! I think he was pondering a bird at this moment, but doesn't he look like he's part of some heavy conversation about Obama and Hillary or something? You can tell there's often a lot going on in this one's head.
And this photo just made me laugh because when you imagine Guatemala, I doubt most of you are thinking of Internet cafes! But here you go -- this restaurant boasted wireless internet for those who came to have a bite to eat with their laptop!
This is all probably just amusing to me the parent, but I wanted to share. We'll keep you posted. We're definitely hoping for some good news about PGN soon! I'm ready to bring these guys home. 13 months so far. Yikes!