The Least of These...Matthew 25:40

Prayer Vigil Details

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 23:42:00 +0000

"Come on everyone see what He has done...Rise with a shout cry out our God's alive!"

Andy Cherry - Our God's Alive

"...pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." James 5:16

We simply can't thank every one enough for praying in a dedicated time with us for our Heidi! The fruits of this are so amazing and I can't wait to share them with you!

One of the first fruits of our prayer vigil was a blessing to Matt and I. We were so comforted to see the community God has given us of people who will love and pray for our child and family!

Another gift of the prayer vigil was receiving news that, as long as no new children came to the orphanage, Heidi would be allowed to stay through the summer. This gave us another prayer request; we wouldn't know for many weeks if it would be possible or not, but we were praying that a transfer had not already happened.

During the time of the prayer vigil a couple of prayer warriors recounted with me the things they felt led to share about their prayer time-- things that have comforted us about our personal prayers for Heidi. Her heart is being prepared to be in a family, and this is a great comfort to us. God also had some very tender words about how to help Heidi transition and manage the whole world that will suddenly become open to her. Parenting instructions from the Lord...wow, simply doesn't get better!

As you all remember, one of the biggest miracles during the prayer vigil time was our dossier being submitted. There were also families receiving travel dates and movement in our region! How much we have prayed for this, and later when the region once again slowed it's wheels, we realized what a miracle it was that we had been submitted at all.

Today we got news of another miracle that has happened which began with the prayer vigil. We have long been praying and asking others to pray that Heidi would be able to stay in her orphanage at least through the summer... and hopefully until we can bring her home. Another adopting family is at Heidi's orphanage this week. They have become dear friends through this adoption, and God worked a miracle through them. They asked and were granted permission to meet Heidi! I am not sure I can convey how much of a miracle this is.They do not normally allow this. But God allowed it and we were incredibly blessed to know that Heidi has not been moved yet...and with only a few days until the orphanage moves to it's summer quarters, it is now very likely that she will stay through the summer! Are you rejoicing with me? :) The other blessing of this was laying eyes on our girl as she is this very day and knowing that someone loved her VERY well! We received wonderful insight into her little person; we have heard that she is a cuddler and very precious. She is still tiny, but from the pictures, oh how she has grown! You know how kids' faces begin changing as they shift out of that baby/young child roundness? Well we see this happening in our dear one's face. This is how it should be. We are thankful that our daughter is growing, but I admit to a little heart tug; we missed this part of her life and that makes my heart sad. But as a friend reminded me today, we have all the rest of her life to enjoy, and that is good. :)

This is but one little piece of the story that God is weaving of His love: His dedication to His children and His power here on earth. He truly has overcome this world, and we get glimpses of this when we invite Him into our lives and pray. Thank you Jesus for this tender mercy, Your goodness and care for the desires of hearts overwhelms us!

Now friends, go and spread the Good News of what He has done...."we will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony."

Find A Family Friday - Inna

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 13:44:00 +0000

Look at this lovey! When I saw her she just captured my heart.

Her name is Inna(you will have to scroll to see her pic and info.) There is not a lot of info about her but here is what we have. She was born August 2008 her caregivers describe her as having "Good character, affectionate, self-sitting, but can not walk. A calm, smiling. Do not talk. She loves to play." I know that can sound intimidating...but just think about how much she will flourish with a Mom and Dad to help her learn how to walk and talk.

Here is a note on what a great region 36 is to adopt from, from a family that has adopted there.

" We fell in LOVE with the city!! :) It's AMAZING for sight-seeing and the hotel you stay in is beautiful with a complimentary breakfast and right on the main pedestrian street where there are tons of shops and restaurants as well as a 5 story mall right across the street with a grocery store and everything! It is VERY SAFE!! We walked everywhere!!

The flight is only a little over an hour from Moscow! There are 2 baby houses in the city (10-15 mins from the hotel) and one baby house outside the city a few hours (if the child is in that specific babyhouse, you do not make the commute every day, but actually stay in a hotel closer to that babyhouse).

The in-country team is AMAZING and became like family to us!! All the trips are 1 week! Because it is a "blind region" not releasing any medical or pics ahead of time, there are not many families adopting from there and so the wait time to process/translate paperwork moves quickly since there are so few families! Our whole process was 6.5 months and would have been faster but the region closed for the Christmas/New Years holiday for a few weeks.

We can't say enough good things about this region and Frank Adoption Center's team there! If we ever do this again (crazy to think lol) we would most likely go back to Region 36!!

Please, if there are any families strongly interested or committed, give them my email if they would like to speak with someone who adopted from there! I would love to share more with them since we are, as I know of, the only family that has adopted from that region through Reece's Rainbow. We were the first "special needs" adoption there so I am assuming we are. We HOPE and PRAY daily that more people will choose region 36!!"

Pray with me friends that someone sees sweet Inna and sees their daughter. Share about Inna and be a voice for her.

Welcome to the Find a Family Friday link up. Adoption has touched so many of our lives and once you step into this world I don’t think you ever really leave it. Your heart is changed forever and the children who are still waiting for families never leave your heart or mind. This heart change is what has moved a group of adopting Mom’s and advocates to join together to post about waiting children.

Find A Family Friday was created to be a fun and easy way to help orphans find their families. Every Friday I will blog about an orphan in need. If you would like to write your own post, sharing about an orphan you know, you can link up here with us. We believe that if we work together to spread the word about waiting children, we can be a part of them finding a forever family. We would love for you to join us in blogging, and be a part of a waiting child's miracle of a forever family.

Linking Guidelines:

Posts must be about an orphaned child without a committed family.
Please link directly to the post you have written for Find A Family Friday. Do not link to your blog’s homepage.
Help spread the word! Grab the button below and add it to your sidebar or post.
Please be aware that there are people who target blogs that advocate for orphaned children by leaving hate messages. Please do not engage them. Set your blog comments to moderation so that these posts never see the light of day.

Heidi's Prayer Vigil May 28

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Mon, 28 May 2012 14:21:00 +0000

I can't believe the month is almost done! Are you still out there praying? I hope so, our girl certainly needs it. We feel that we have seen so many good things coming at the same time as this prayer vigil. We were submitted completely to our surprise. Families are being given travel dates once again. But there is still more that we are laying before the Lord, more hopes to place in His trustworthy hands. So as we head into the last few days of our prayer vigil we are asking for our prayer warriors to pray over these items

The agreement was not ratified on May 25th as was suggested. Without this agreement being passed no new travel dates will be give. It sounds like they will be discussing the issue again on Jun 5-6th and if necessary Jun 22nd. Please pray that this agreement can be passed quickly.
Please continue to pray for Heidi's safety in body, mind and spirit. We will not know until well into June if she has been allowed to stay with her orphanage or moved. It is our fervent hearts desire that she can stay...but we will follow and trust God's plan no matter how this unfolds...but we lay this hope in His hands.

If you have any special words to share with us from your time praying for us, we would love to hear about them. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for praying us through...we have certainly seen miracles!

Good News Updates

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:57:00 +0000

We've had more encouraging news come our way over the past few days. As I sat in worship on Sunday I had this mental image of the Lord walking us through and out of a cold dark winter and taking us towards the first hints of spring. Well it suddenly feels like summer is on the horizon with all the encouraging news we continue to get.

The good news is that yes we were submitted last Tuesday!!!! The even better news is that the agreement that we've all been waiting on that has held up our adoption for so long is going to be ratified THIS FRIDAY!!! As a result of this things seem to be moving once again in our region. We are seeing the families directly in front of us in the process are receiving travel dates for only 2-3 weeks out. This is deeply exciting and encouraging because we believe this means we also can expect a travel date in the next 4-5 weeks. That is our hope anyways.

We have once again turned our minds and time to the work of bringing home our Little One. It's exciting and also a little mind boggling. You quickly loose the "language of adoption paperwork" if you are not constantly "in it." But we know we can do this and are beyond thrilled to be able to be working again at our adoption.

We are just so in awe of God and His faithfulness in carrying us through what was a hard period of waiting. Everything that is happening is His victory and we rejoice! We also look forward to what we hope will be a summer spent in Easter Europe..meeting our daughter for the first time...what an adventure this summer will be for us!

We would love to hear how the prayer vigil is going for everyone. We are still very much praying that Heidi can stay with her orphanage through the summer. Thank you for continuing to pray for our Little One.

Find A Family Friday May 18, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:17:00 +0000

Today for Find A Family Friday, I am highlighting a little girl who is only one year younger than our oldest daughter...I see our Lilli blossoming into a young lady and it breaks my heart to think that dear Victoria is not free to enjoy these same wonders of life.

Look at that smile and those eyes full of life! Here is the picture of a little girl who plays "Mommy" to her dolls...a little girl who wishes for a Mommy of her own.

Miss Victoria was born arthrogryposis, which only appears to affect her legs/feet. She has a glowing personality and is a caregiver favorite. Will be wonderful to see her, after surgery and therapy, walking on her own!! If she is not adopted, she will spend the rest of her life bedridden.

From the facilitator who has met Victoria - Victoria is happy and affectionate. She loves to play with her dolls and to pretend to be mommy. She is a very pretty girl. She is a rather smart girl, the care-givers love her. She cannot support herself and needs assistance. She does not walk but she is a very active girl. She is moving herself somehow, using mostly her hands.

As with all children living in these difficult conditions, this child’s cognitive development has regressed significantly since he/she was younger. It is of crucial importance that any family considering the adoption of an older child from the mental institution setting be well prepared for what to expect with regards to how the neglect and lack of adequate medical care and nourishment has affected this child. These children all have TREMENDOUS potential for improvement, and deserve to have a life outside these four walls.

Victoria is on the Sizeable Grants page. She already has $2,803.60 in her grant to help her family with adoption costs. Please help me to spread the word about Victoria...take a moment to be a voice for those who have no voice. If you are able, consider making a donation to Victoria's grant and as always, please join us in prayer that Victoria's family will find her and that she may soon be in the arms of her own Mommy and Daddy.

Linking Guidelines:

Posts must be about an orphaned child without a committed family.
Please link directly to the post you have written for Find A Family Friday. Do not link to your blog’s homepage.
Help spread the word! Grab the button below and add it to your sidebar or post.
Please be aware that there are people who target blogs that advocate for orphaned children by leaving hate messages. Please do not engage them. Set your blog comments to moderation so that these posts never see the light of day.

Good News

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:35:00 +0000

Well here is another two post's in one day...but this is certainly worthy of a two post day. We received news today....we are going to be submitted THIS week!!!! If you don't speak adoption language that means that our registration dossier paperwork will be submitted to the powers that be, making us officially on the countries radar as a family seeking to adopt a child from their country.

Tears of joy and praise because I can tell you friends...I didn't expect this at all. I had given up all thoughts of "expecting" any news or making any plans. So I was completely surprised by this..and I know without a doubt that this is God's handiwork.

So what does this all mean? Well our region is still technically shut...but the meetings that need to happen to ratify the agreement between our countries have begun. One down, two meetings to go. We believe and hope that their willingness to accept our dossier is evidence that "the wheels" know they will soon be moving and they are starting to slowly squeak into action.

In more practical terms, we still won't expect any news on traveling until the agreement has been ratified...but we are now in a position to receive a travel date when things get rolling.

Praise God with us friends...He has done this!

Prayer Vigil - May 14, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Today we have another prayer prompt to share with you all. Thank you once again for praying with us....I can say that last week was one of the hardest weeks, lot's of stuff that left us feeling bruised. But tonight while making the rounds of our Mother's day phone calls, which inevitably led to questions about our adoption, well it was during this that I noticed that I felt hope and joy. I know this is in great part due to the way that everyone is praying for Heidi and us her waiting parents. So thank you all!

Now onto our prayer prompt.

"1 Samuel 1:27-28

Hannah Dedicates Samuel

27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.”

We believe that the Lord has given us His word that Heidi WILL be our daughter to care for on earth. He is always faithful and trustworthy! Today, remember all that YOU have asked of the Lord, and what He has given to you through His faithfulness. Please pray that the Lord would always be near Heidi, to provide safety, love, and hope!

~Matt"

As a side note...I've got bits of nesting going on in my heart and house as we prepare for Heidi. One of the things that this scripture prompt had me teary over is, I would love to have the scripture of verse 27 as a piece of artwork in Heidi's room...this is the child I have prayed for and the Lord has granted me what I asked...and then her full name. Sigh...happy dreams.

Find A Family Friday May 11, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:27:00 +0000

Somehow I forgot it was friday, even though all my in real life stuff clearly pointed to it being friday. So here I am posting in twice in one day! Wowza, don't get to excited, I doubt this will be the norm. ;)

For Find A Family Friday I have chosen the child that is so dear to my heart. We have been praying for this little girl for about 18 mo's now. We are her Reece's Rainbow Prayer Warrior's and if you've spent any time on our blog you will be familiar with her. Her name is Joanie. Joanie is 6 years old. She is in the same country that our sweet Heidi is in although she is in a different region. I can share that from other adopting parents I've spoken to this region is a great region to adopt from, with a smooth moving process and caregivers who care. Joanie has HIV and let me tell you friends that is not something to be afraid of anymore. to learn more about the truth of living with HIV you visit http://www.projecthopeful.org/ Please share about Joanie, donate to her RR grant fund and maybe, just maybe you are Joanie's parents.

It is our hearts desire that a family is found for Joanie. We will be faithful partners in walking the road to bring her home with you. Now for some Joanie cuteness....how can your resists?! :)

Here are some younger pics of Joanie...what a blessing these will be to her family!

I love that she always seems to have a baby of some sort in her hands...what a sweetheart. Please pray, share and give so that this little one has the hope of a family.

Linking Guidelines:

Posts must be about an orphaned child without a committed family.
Please link directly to the post you have written for Find A Family Friday. Do not link to your blog’s homepage.
Help spread the word! Grab the button below and add it to your sidebar or post.
Please be aware that there are people who target blogs that advocate for orphaned children by leaving hate messages. Please do not engage them. Set your blog comments to moderation so that these posts never see the light of day.

Prayer Vigil - May 11, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Fri, 11 May 2012 14:40:00 +0000

Today officially begins our prayer vigil for Heidi. We thank you all SO much for joining with us...what comfort and joy it brings to us that for the rest of this month there will be people praying for Heidi around the clock. Good things will come from this, the first fruit is the encouragement to our hearts of already seeing the community that Heidi already has who love her. Thank you...from the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

We have a prayer prompt for today...a scripture that we believe God wants us to pray and meditate on as we spend this time on Heidi's behalf. I love how God takes our intent and fills it to an even bigger design than our eyes have seen or minds have considered...we see this with our first prayer prompt.

"Galatians 3:5-7

"So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? So also Abraham "believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness." Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham."

We started this journey to rescue Heidi based upon faith; faith that He had truly called us to save a life, faith that despite the overwhelming costs of international adoption, He would provide the means to save His precious child's life.

Time and time again in this adoption process, we have offered prayers to the Lord and received answers which provided tears of joy, tears of sadness and sometimes caused frustrated cries of "why?!" from both of us.

Today, the Lord brought the above verses from Galatians to my attention.

Often times, I have felt moved by the Holy Spirit. I have been prompted to pray for people I did not know, to share a scripture with someones who was in need, or to simply stop focusing on my own needs to serve another person in their present distress whether physical, financial or emotional.

It is so easy to disregard the Holy Spirit, to assume that the root of our kindness, our generosity, our compassion stems from our selves. But these gifts are all from the Lord!

Consider this: Abraham chose to believe God. In genesis 17, Abraham was told that he would be the father of many nations; that his descendants would be greatly increased in number...yet he could not even imagine fathering any children since he was 99 years old and his wife was 90!! As a result of his obedience to God, we have his amazing history, along with God's promise, to draw strength from.

In honor of Heidi, today I ask that you try to listen to the Holy Spirit, and act upon His request. What is He asking of you today?

I began my prayer time already "knowing" that I would pray for the Lord to reveal to me a scripture detailing His love of children, or something else "appropriate" to our plea's for Heidi. I was certain that a verse would be given to me, and I'd simply ask everyone to pray in accord with it. But instead, He has shown me what HE wants to have shared with others--To listen to Him, and to do as He asks us with a glad heart. I am so happy that I had an open mind and heart to accept His will for us to rescue Heidi, and to share His word with everyone today!

Have a blessed day,

~Matt"

Lord...we lay aside our "certainties" of what and how we should begin our prayer vigil for Heidi and instead offer this time of prayer back to you as a thanks offering. Help us to hear you today Lord and to act on the individual missions you will give us today. Thank you Lord for having your ear turned towards us and for your absolute faithfulness in all things. Amen

We still need someone to fill the 2pm hour and the 7 pm hour, you need only commit to 15 min's with in that hour. To sign up please visit this link http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/252345633888386033 If you have trouble signing up, please leave a comment and I will reserve a time for you.

Prayer Vigil Update

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:59:00 +0000

We still have many spots open for our prayer vigil for Heidi. Because of this I have decided to wait a few days until we have better coverage to begin the "official" prayer prompts. But please feel free to pray as led if you've already signed up.

Remember to sign up you can visit this link http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/252345633888386033

If you have any issues signing up, please let me know and I will add you myself to the prayer vigil. Just email me. :)

A Call To Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:15:00 +0000

Some of you may remember a post I wrote sharing that we had recieved news that Heidi would be transferred in May. At that time, we still believed it was possible for us to get through court before then, and save her from this. But as you can imagine, with the temporary closure of our region, this is no longer possible. So a month ago, we asked for an update on if moving her in May was still the plan. We have finally recieved our update. The news is that yes, they are still planning on moving her this month-- BUT, if no new children come to the orphanage, they will keep her there until August. We also found out the place that she will be moved to, and praise the Lord it is not an institution! It is one of the better choices if one has to be moved.

And yet...my Mama's heart still believes that it's not a good thing for a little one to "move" without the love, care and comfort of a Mama to help her understand what is happening.Yet even with that thought, I know that the Lord is with Heidi, and has been her Father all these many years...He will go with her when we can not. It was with that heart that the Lord put a new idea into my mind; we will be starting a prayer vigil for Heidi that will go through the rest of the month of May. We feel strongly called to cover our girl in prayer at this time. The Lord has not left us helpless, but has given us the strong tool of prayer to "battle" for our child. We would be so blessed if you would join us in praying for Heidi for the rest of this month.

Here is how it works:

You can commit to praying for a specific time frame each day for the rest of the month- the sign up only reflects one day, but we ask that you commit to that time frame each day for the remainder of May.
Sign ups will be held at Volunteer spot I do believe that you will need to provide an email address to sign up. This is legit, so please don't feel uncomfortable signing up. We have used this program with our small group many times in the past.
We will provide a scripture or prayer prompt to pray over Heidi every day; this will be posted here on the blog and on FB, so please be looking for it every day. But as always, please pray as the Holy Spirit is leading you.
We will begin our prayer prompts on May 8th.
Sign ups will only be open until friday, so please come and sign up quickly. :)
Please share with us any "words" or special prayers you may have, the encouragement is very much desired as we walk-out the waiting part of our journey.

If you have any questions or have any issues getting things to work, please do not hesitate to contact me! I am happy to help. We are so grateful that God has promised His ears are turned towards us when we pray, and so thankful to have a community that already loves Heidi-- and will stand in the gap for her!

Blessings,

Amy

Find A Family Friday Link Up

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:27:00 +0000

Today begins a new project I am so excited about, Find A Family Friday. This idea came to be during the advocating that many of us did for Kacey. As the adoptive mom's and advocates chatted about the Kacey project our hearts and conversations also turned towards other children who are waiting. That was when the idea was born to keep the advocating going and Find A Family Friday was born. I invite you to read below on how you can link up and avocate for a child of your choosing.

Linking Guidelines:

Posts must be about an orphaned child without a committed family.
Please link directly to the post you have written for Find A Family Friday. Do not link to your blog’s homepage.
Help spread the word! Grab the button below and add it to your sidebar or post.
Please be aware that there are people who target blogs that advocate for orphaned children by leaving hate messages. Please do not engage them. Set your blog comments to moderation so that these posts never see the light of day.

May Day

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 03:39:00 +0000

The first day of May is looming. Hard to think that many months ago I thought we may have been going on our court trip this month. But God has other plans.

I am human and have been through a range of emotions regarding this continued waiting to meet our daughter, to make her our own, to bring her home. But always, the still quiet voice pushes me to focus on the truth. What is the truth? The truth is what scripture tells us and it says:

Ecclesiastes 3:11

New Living Translation (NLT)

^"11Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end"

My eyes see the beginning of May as the time when the child I love is facing transfer, a prospect that breaks my heart...I want so badly to be able to protect her from the heartache of leaving everything that she knows and having to face all of that change on her own...it hurts.

But I have a choice...

Do I focus on how it feels and what my human understanding can tell me...or do I choose to trust the creator of the universe who makes everything beautiful in it's own time?

It is no surprise that God has me studying the life of the Apostle Paul. Time and time again we see him facing extremely difficult circumstances. If we looked only at the face value of these situations we would see shipwrecks, beatings and time spent in jail. But through the mercy of God's scripture we see God's view. We see many more beloved children coming into the eternal salvation through belief in Jesus. That is love and that is mercy, even though the facade says this is jail, this is tragedy, this is hardship.

The perspective is important, the choice to believe that God's perspective is complete and true is crucial to walking out difficulties.

So we pray for the faith to make this choice with every breathe we take. We choose right now that although our hearts are breaking and feel helpless, to believe that God makes everything beautiful in His time. We choose to believe that He is a Father to the Fatherless and that nothing can separate Heidi from His love. This is the truth, no matter what the future brings.

A Birthday Wish

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:14:00 +0000

One of the things that I think about quite a bit, is not just about our specific child, but all the children who we will leave behind. I wonder how my heart will ever bear the truth that these children still wait when we finally bring our dear Heidi home. You see it's easy to know their are orphans, it's an entirely different thing to stand next to them, meet them, see them and see their heart and soul crying out for love...that is the stuff that breaks hearts. My best thought and hope is that when we face this, that our response must be to advocate passionately for the children left behind. That is the very thing my friend Kelly is doing.

I met Kelly because of our adoption. She and her husband have just brought home a little girl from Heidi's country. Their beloved is named Charlotte. Aren't they beautiful together?!

In Kelly's own words she writes about the children that they have met, the children that have been left behind... "I hear their laughter in my dreams sometimes. I hear their cries, too. And I wake up feeling completely powerless. They are the ones we are leaving behind when we bring Charlotte home."

Kelly has marched into the "passionate advocating" and began writing about three children who were Charlotte's friends. Since then, two of them have families committed to them. But one remains. Her name is Kacey. Kacey has Apert Syndrome.

Kelly had the pleasure to meet Kacey and here she describes meeting her.

"Kacey initially observed us from the safety of the child size chairs across the room. She was clearly skeptical of these new people watching her lesson. She watched carefully as Charlotte eagerly climbed up into my lap and snuggled in for some hugs from Momma before participating in her lesson. Her curiosity seemed to overrule her initial fear, and she shyly sidled up next to me. She extended her scarred arms and hands and looked up into my face, waiting to see what my reaction would be. When I smiled and traced her scars with my fingers, she relaxed. She put her hand on my leg and questioned, “Mama?” I don't think I could ever forget the look on her face when my answer was 'nyet'."

These children have a permanent residence in Kelly's heart...and so she is a voice of hope for them. It is Kelly's birthday this weekend. For her birthday she is trying to help Kacey, to help her grant grow and help her find a family....so that the next time Kacey asks someone, "Are you my Mama?" the answer will be a joyful "Yes!"

We can help friends! We are blessed beyond blessed, and so I am asking you, today, to make an offering of love to Kacey. Make a donation to her grant, be part of her miracle that says "You are seen, you are loved, you have a hope." Pray for Kacey that her family will find her. Share her photo so that her family can find her, and this weekend, please donate to Kacey's Reece's Rainbow Grant, so that when her family finds her, their financial burden will be lessened. You have a chance to be part of a miracle, now go forth and bless!

The Moment HAS Come!

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:56:00 +0000

I got an update today from Lifesong for Orphans...between the efforts of the Merrill family and their generous donation of design work and some other donations that were made...WE HAVE MADE IT!!!!!!!

WE ARE FULLY FUNDED!!!!!

I write this with tears in my eyes of absolute gratitude. All praise, honor and glory belong to the Father who has provided everything we have needed to bring Heidi home. Thank you body of Christ for being the hands and feet for our family, for our daughter far away.

There was a time over a year ago when I wondered if this moment would ever happen, if it would happen for us....we stepped out in faith believing the call we heard from God to make one of His beloved children one of our beloved children...but friends it was scary. There was no way we could have produced $47,000 on our own, just no way...but we have a God who tells us nothing is impossible with Him, that everything in this world is His and He is able to make all manner of things happen when it's His will....and the best of all that He is a good Father who loves to give good gifts to His children, that He delights in these details of our lives .

If you ever wonder if these things are true, I offer up our story as proof. Everything we have for our adoption has come through His hand and through other believers who have listened to the stirring of their hearts from the Holy Spirit to be part of Heidi's miracle. If you have a heart for adoption but think finances will disqualify you I encourage you to seek the Lord and know that He DOES provide.

There is not thank you enough, for those who have joined us in this journey. From the bottom of our joy filled hearts, thank you!

Now to bring our girl home!

open, open, open, open

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 19:26:00 +0000

"I am waiting, in a silent prayer" Breathe of Heaven

Remember that Mervyn's commercial many years ago? You know the one with the woman eagerly waiting with her nose pressed up against the glass, chanting open, open, open as she waited for a really great sale? Well I feel like her right now. I've got my face pressed up against the glass and all I can think about is "open, open, open, open the doors to Heidi's country."

As previously mentioned Heidi's region in her country(not the whole country) is closed to American adoptions right now. They are ratifying an agreement between our two countries. We've been waiting such a long time...through their normal winter closures, then their holiday closure...now this. We were set to be submitted on Feb. 13th....that has come and gone. Our dossier has sat, ready for submission since December.

I'll be honest...this part is hard. We are SO ready, we want to get to Heidi so badly. There is also the threat of her being switched from her current preschool orphanage...at this point, it will truly only be God who can keep her from this...but isn't that fitting, as it has been He who has sustained her all these years, and it is He who has brought us to her with hearts full of love.

Here is what I can say...we are being challenged at deeper and deeper levels to trust God's timing. We are being challenged more and more to live in the peace that is offered to us. Sometimes we do this well, sometimes we don't do this well.

I share this because I think it's important for people to see a faith life lived out...we aren't doing this perfectly, we never could. But we are being sustained...learning to cry out for revival of our very beings more and more to the one who comforts and brings true peace.

I find my life right now to be a waiting, silent prayer of "please Lord, remember our need, remember our child, open the doors so that we can rescue her....your will be done, give me strength, courage and peace to rejoice in your will." We aren't giving up the belief that peace is ours to be had in this wait...we also aren't giving up the belief that we have a God who's ear is turned towards us and who knows and holds every tear we are crying right now.

"breathe of heaven hold me together, be forever near me, breathe of heaven

breathe of heaven, lighten my darkness pour over me your holiness, breathe of heaven."

Update on Lifesong Grant

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:04:00 +0000

I am so excited to share with you that because of growth in our Reece's Rainbow Family Sponsorship Page and our Lifesong grant we are only $260 away from being fully funded! Which means because of the matching grant we only have to raise $130!!!!! Isn't that amazing?!?! We are so stinking close to being fully funded!!! What joy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!

Let's cross this finish line!

Please Consider

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:41:00 +0000

We are so excited about our Lifesong for Orphans matching grant. This is such a great opportunity for us. I can't even express what a blessing it would be to be completely done with fundraising before we begin the riggers of traveling. The blessing of being able to focus solely on the needs of traveling, meeting Heidi(be still my heart!) and the needs of our three children at home. Those are all big things to have on our plate. Having to fundraise in the midst of all of that will make it even more difficult.

So I humbly remind everyone about our matching grant. So far we've had zero donations. Our goal is $950 which Lifesong will then turn into the $1900 we still need to be fully funded. Please will you consider if you might help us with these last costs?

If you are interested in helping you can either make a paypal donation to our Lifesong account by clicking on the yellow donate button on the right side of our blog.(Please note, it is the yellow button that is under the words Lifesong, and is NOT our Reece's Rainbow button).

The other way you can make a donation is to mail a donation to:

Lifesong for Orphans PO Box 40

202 N. Ford St

Gridley, IL 61744

Please note Peterson #2603 in the memo so that it is put into our account.

We thank you all for your prayers and for being on this journey with us. Anyone out there getting a little excited that our time to meet Heidi may be soon? I am! I'm caught up day dreaming quite a bit about the moment that we meet her. Watching who she is unfold and become known to us. All the sweet moments that are waiting for us! We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us get to those sweet moments.

Happy World Down Syndrome Day!

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Today is World Down Syndrome Day. Many people are honoring their loved ones with DS on this day by advocating and educating others about what DS is and what it isn't. Our big girls chose to wear some blue and yellow at school today to honor Heidi. Proud Mama! I can honestly say that I knew very little about DS before adoption came into our lives. So we are learning too.

One thing that I have learned and that I find very important is the idea of "people first language." Often when speaking of a person with Down Syndrome we will use terms like "a Downs baby" or something similar. Always putting the diagnosis before the person. In my journey to learn about Down Syndrome I have learned that people with DS are more alike than they are different. Just as I would not like to be known and referred to always as Amy the Weight Struggling Woman, or Amy Not Good at Math Woman, a person with DS also does not want to be defined only by their diagnosis. Because as you can see...I am so much more than a person who struggles with weight and math. I am a mother, I am a child of God, I am a singer, I am funny. This is true for people with DS, they ARE SO MUCH MORE than just a diagnosis. So please join me in learning to honor the person first when we are speaking. Yes DS is a part of who they are, but it is not the only part of who they are.

I can't wait to bring Heidi home and find out all the little tidbits of who she is as a beautiful individual soul. I hope that you will join me in thinking of her and speaking of her as the beautiful person that she is as a whole. To help us both on our journeys to learn more about DS here is a great video from the "More Alike Than Different" campaign hosted by the National Down Syndrome Congress. I LOVE this video. :)

Lifesong Matching Grant

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:35:00 +0000

As mentioned in our post yesterday we are SO close to being fully funded and God provided for us the very opportunity we needed to become fully funded. He sent us Lifesong for Orphans. Lifesong is an organization that's goal is to help care for the orphans of the world. One of the ways they do this is by offering grants to adopting families. We have been offered a matching grant. This is SO wonderful because every dollar donated will be matched. That means we only need to raise $950 of the $1900 needed to be fully funded and Lifesong will match the rest. We have a deadline though of May 2nd to meet this goal and to be able to take advantage of this amazing matching grant offer.

You will notice two new features to our blog on the right side. These two new features are the two ways that you can help us receive this grant. You can mail a donation to the Lifesong address, indicating the Peterson Family #2603 in the memo. When mailing a donation, every penny of your donation is put into our families Lifesong account as there are no service fees. The second way that you can help us reach our goal of $950 is by donating through the Lifesong Paypal button on the right. Please note though that Paypal has fee's and your donation will be "less" those service fees. It is also important to note that the donations must go through Lifesong for us to be able to receive the matching grant. Lifesong is a 501c3 so that means that your donation IS tax deductible.

We stand in awe and thanksgiving of how far the Lord has brought us and we look forward with excitement to climbing over this final hurdle. It is with humble gratitude that we ask you to be a part of of this final financial push, to bringing Heidi home. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Miracles Abound = BIG NEWS!

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 02:41:00 +0000

You have waited so patiently and today I can finally share our cliff hanger news. This has been one of the hardest secrets to keep.

But let me start at the beginning. Remember when we shared our adoption video testimony at church? Well God had big plans for us through that opportunity. He had already prepared the heart of another family within our church, blessed them with a heart for children and a heart of generosity. I won't share the details of their story but I will say this...their heart of generosity and obedience is such a humbling and faith building experience for me. They shared with us that they believed they heard God saying to them in regards to a saved sum of money "you don't need this right now, but they do, I will provide for you when the time comes" and my friends, they were completely obedient. They approached my husband to ask how much we still needed to be fully funded. My hubby shared the number we had discussed which was $15,000 to be fully funded. They without hesitation stepped forward and said "we'd like to take care of that for you." This conversation happened without me, so as my husband relayed the info to me, I was of so little faith, I kept asking him if there was any possibility he had misunderstood...for someone to be so generous...it was just more than my heart could process. It's taken about two weeks to get all the details ironed out, but you will notice on our Reece's Rainbwo Family Sponsorship page that our number has jumped significantly...and yes...indeed...it did jump $15,000.

But that's not all folks! Just a few days later we realized that even though we had said $15,000 to be fully funded that we had omitted an important fee. You see our placing agency suggests that you travel with $1,000 extra per trip because it is almost a given that you will need it to change plane tickets, redo paperwork or other various things that pop up. We had not added this to our cost sheet, so we realized quickly that we actually still needed $1,900 ! But God already had a plan for that. We were contacted by Lifesong for Orphans , sharing the news that we were being blessed with a matching grant through their organization. So now, the reality is that we only need to raise $900, that will be sent to Lifesong on our behalf, and it will be matched.

Did you see it friends...in a matter of two weeks God has moved us to a place of being almost fully funded!

This blessing is more than we could have ever imagined......how blessed we are to be moved into a place where we can dedicate ourselves more fully to the paperwork, the traveling, the preparing of our hearts and homes for our Little One...it's more than I can ever do justice to in words. God is so amazing isn't He? I have said to others that it's just like Him to blow our minds this way. He says that He is a Father who delights in giving us good gifts according to His will, that He delights in the details of our lives, that everything in this whole wide world truly belongs to Him...we are a living testimony to this truth...and He has overwhelmed our hearts with this gift...this precious gift that means our daughter is coming home! Thank you Jesus...Thank you Jesus.... :)

Lamentations 3:22-23

New Living Translation (NLT)

²² The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
His mercies never cease.
²³ Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.

Watch over the next couple of days for information on how to help us receive our Lifesong matching grant.

This Year

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 20:10:00 +0000

Today is my birthday. :) I am loved, treasured and blessed always...you know what makes me smile most on my special day? It's the knowledge that as I usher in a new year of my life, I am also ushering in the year of my life that Heidi comes into our family. There isn't an emoticon smiley face big enough for the joy of that sweet sweet thought. It's a squeeze my eyes shut I'm smiling so hard smile...kinda like this....

Not much is going on in the adoption front right now. Things are still at a stand still with the country closure. There is a lot of talk floating around about the cause, reasoning and eventualities of this close. But we stand firm, eye's fixed on Jesus trusting that "He who began this good work in us will bring it to completion." We believe it's temporary and are continuing to move forward with everything believing that we will have a need to be ready some day soon.

In the mean time...stay tuned for some pretty big news....yes I know I already teased you with this...but the kinks are still being worked out...so I'm throwing you another cliff hanger. :)

A Weekend At Church

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:45:00 +0000

This weekend was a long awaited moment for our family. Over many months we have been working on a video testimonial about our adoption. We have felt since the beginning of this calling on our lives that we were to share the journey so that others could see what God was doing, that He is still very active, very powerful and most of all abundant in love for His children.

As I mentioned in a previous post it was pretty fun to experience, lights, camera action! But the most wonderful part was sharing with our church family, whom we love dearly. What joy! We were at 3 out of 4 services over a Saturday and Sunday. I wish I could share the video but we are being cautious yet. But I can share the sermon. The Pastor did such a wonderful job of choosing the right scripture, the right topic to join our story with. When paired with the video,it made a wonderful testimony to what God does in the face of what seem like impossible situations. I hope you will listen. (link to sermon)

Stay tuned for more "news" that resulted from sharing our story....I like "to be continued's" adds a little spice to life. ;)

Help Bring Heidi Home By Shopping Amazon

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 20:38:00 +0000

Did you notice the new feature on our blog? It's that handy dandy little Amazon link that shows you all sorts of daily deals on the right side of our blog. We have recently become Amazon Associates. What this means is that any purchase that is made on Amazon that originated from our blog we will now receive 4% of the sale. So simple! You do not have to purchase the things that are show on the link, it is simply a tool to get you to Amazon. They automatically track that you started on our site and jumped to Amazon through the link.

So we humbly ask that when you have online purchases to make that you would remember us and hop on here to use our link to get you to Amazon. Every penny we earn through this venture will go to help us bring Heidi home. When Heidi is home we plan on using the earnings to support other adopting families and waiting children.

Please feel free to ask any questions and as always thank you for supporting us in our journey to bring Heidi home.

A Time Of Preparation

noreply@blogger.com (The Peterson's) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 20:05:00 +0000

I come in to share news of joy! Two Saturdays ago we received our I71H approval, otherwise known as USCIS approval. Some people affectionately call it "the golden ticket." It's usually met with lots of joy and fanfare in the adoption community because it means that you are well on your way to your child. For many families it means you will travel soon. I had looked forward to this milestone from the beginning of our journey, because I knew that without this piece of paper stating approval, we would not be able to adopt. Yet, you will notice I didn't mention it when we received it. Why? Well as I have mentioned, our region is closed for a few weeks (after months of closure for various other reasons,) and although we were supposed to be submitted on February 13th, that is now on hold. It's possible we will submitted on the 27th, but because of a coming election on March 4th, it is also possible that our submission will be delayed further. So our approval, while still vital and important, at the moment felt anticlimactic.

If you have been on this journey with us from the beginning, you will remember the time of waiting the Lord had us in before ever even committing to Heidi. I learned much during that time, things that are helping me persevere through the adoption journey. I was forgetting what I learned, just like the Israelites-- who were instructed to build altars to help them remember the mighty works God had done in their life, because they too were prone to forget. I was forgetting my lessons of my previous wait to help me through this current wait, and I found myself heartsick from hope deferred, and that is not the place of abundance that God has for me as an heir of His kingdom.

But in that way that God has, He gently brought me a reminder today of my lessons learned. He spoke to me through my Senior Pastor at church. Pastor talked about "a time of preparation" that is displayed in many figures of the Bible, such as Joseph, David and Queen Esther. My heart awakened once more and remembered how in our wait to committing to Heidi, God prepared me and grew in me a deepened faith that believed I would see the true character and abundance of God lived out in my life. He reminded me of how unsettled I was in the beginning of the wait, and how when I invited Him in, He led me beside still waters and soothed my aching heart. He reminded me that the wait did come to an end, and when it did, I looked back and said, "Praise be to God for the good gifts He has given me in this wait."

Lord you are one who prepares us for the calling you place on our lives. I thank you for this wait, and say, "Come Jesus, come...come and prepare me for what lies ahead, gently settle my restlessness about the wait and open my eyes and heart to the lessons you are giving me now in this time of preparation. I will once again praise you for the good gifts you are giving me in this time of waiting."