I have to admit...I have been a horrible blogger. I love keeping up and reading other people's blogs but when it comes to updating ours - I fail miserably. One of my goals of 2011 is to do a better job of documenting our lives as a family. I especially want to do a better job of recorded and recounting the amazing ways in which God intervenes in our lives and shows Himself Mighty and Faithful.
With this new year comes excitement, but also a deep sense of our dependency on God as we sense new and different journeys and directions that the Lord is laying on our hearts. As we seek His will, we know that He will be and is faithful to lead us in His path. One of the several areas that we are seeking direction is in adoption. This week, we were overjoyed to hear that Baby M is now home from Ethiopia with his forever family. It sounds like he is doing amazing and for that, we are so thankful!! Over the last several weeks we have begun to ask the question, "What is next, Lord?" From the correspondence that we still receive from our agency, we have learned that we will need to completely update/redo ALL of our paperwork, beginning with our home study-dossier-and finally immigration paperwork. The guidelines in Ethiopia as far as the health history of both adopting parents has also changed since we first started the process and so we do not know what that means for our family, especially for Jack.
It seems like there are so many unknowns and it is sometimes hard to answer those people that ask us what our adoption journey will look like now. Honestly, we have no idea. What we do know is that God has laid adoption on our hearts, He has stirred in us a passion for orphans, we will be faithful to His call on our lives to adopt, and we will seek His timing in beginning the process again.
In the meantime, we will enjoy every precious moment that God gives us with Aaron and our new son/daughter. We will treasure our family of four until God moves to grow our family once again through adoption.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Saturday, September 18, 2010
"Lord, I am amazed by you..."
We are so excited to let all of you praying friends and family know that our beloved Baby-M has a forever family. (If you are not familiar with our adoption story or Baby-M read the preceding posts.) Over the last several days, we have watched God move mountains and demonstrate his most tender and precious love to place Baby-M in the tender-loving arms and hearts of an amazing family. Not only does Baby-M have a forever family, but his forever family happen to be some very dear friends of ours. Yes, God has been orchestrating a beautiful story for Baby-M and we have been blessed to watch it all unfold. I would strongly suggest that you read this amazing story from Baby-M's new mommy's heart at their blog: http://yearn4surrender.blogspot.com/. You will be truly blessed and will also be able to know how to partner with this amazing family through prayer as they prepare to bring Baby-M home to their forever family.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Learning how to let go....
Adoption update...
Dear Praying Friends & Family,
For the last 2 ½ months I have tried to write this email to you…..but I just could never do it. Now we know why, the story wasn’t finished…God was orchestrating something so amazing and so wonderful for little Baby-M. We just needed to be still until He had finished writing the story. Now, God has given me release to write. As I do, the tears are flowing…tears of joy….tears of sadness….but mostly tears of awe as we consider what God has done for Baby-M.
At the beginning of June, Jack and I discovered that we were once again pregnant – expecting another baby February 6, 2011. At the time, things were not going well with Baby-M's adoption. His paperwork was not in order, his forms hadn’t been signed and court closure was looming on the horizon. Despite these circumstances, God gave us a great peace that He would work all of the details out.
About two weeks later, we received a call from our adoption agency that would forever change our lives. They told us that Baby-M's case was “hopeless” that his case was “impossible” and that we needed to accept another referral. Baby-M would be returned to his original orphanage to spend the rest of his life. We were heartbroken. It took several days for the realization to hit that Baby-M would never come home, that he would never meet his big brother, that we would never get to snuggle him, kiss him and or rock him to sleep. God was asking us to lay Baby-M down…..our Isaac. Even though we shed many tears, we never stopped praying for Baby-M and for his release because we knew that “impossible” was not acceptable because nothing is impossible for our God.
That brings us to today. Last Thursday, we again received a call from our agency…one that we didn’t expect. This time the news was much different. This time with great joy in her voice, the director of our agency told us that Baby-M's papers were in order, his papers had been signed and he was ready to come home! God has done the impossible!! Baby-M has been released – our prayers have been answered and we are once again in awe.
As I talked to our agency about Baby-M's projected homecoming date, she said that if everything went smoothly, Baby-M would come home the end of January – beginning of February…the same time our second baby is due to be born.
Once again, we were faced with a decision – one that we never thought we would be making. Our agency granted us the weekend to pray about how to proceed. They said that even though we were pregnant that would let us proceed; however, they needed us to be absolutely sure that we could proceed…that we were aware of the fact that both of these children would be arriving in our family at the same time. They wanted us to consider all that that would mean for both of these children and our family.
It is so difficult to write the rest of this email….there were many things that we needed to consider, special circumstances that couldn’t be ignored, we prayed about what would be in Baby-M's best interest, new baby’s best interest….for us the most unselfish thing that we could do was once again lay Baby-M down, but this time it wouldn’t mean him going back to an orphanage….this time it means that another wonderful adoptive family will have the privilege of calling him son.
I have to be honest, I was afraid to write this email….afraid that our decision would be judged, that we would be judged, but I rest in the fact that we are making this decision because we want what is best for Baby-M. We want to be fair to him and his needs. We want Baby-M to be given the care, attention, bonding time, etc. that he will need right away that would be difficult for us to give with his homecoming overlapping with new baby’s birth.
Either way, Baby-M wins! He is coming home….even if it is not to our home. We love Baby-M dearly. Jack told me last night, “Sarah, there will always and forever be a void in my heart for Baby-M.” Yes, there will be. Our hearts and arms will always ache for Baby-M, but in our sadness, we are rejoicing in the miracle that God has done to release Baby-M and allow him to be adopted. To grow up in a forever family!
And so it seems like our journey to Baby-M is complete…with the best ending there could be….Baby-M will have a home…parents that love him and rock him and kiss him and tell him how precious he is. We will continue to pray for the child that God has for us over in Ethiopia and look forward to the day when we will get to meet him/her.
Thank you again for praying and for standing in the gap for Baby-M. We long for the day that we can meet Baby-M and tell him about you and your faithful love and prayers for him, even if it is in heaven.
Sincerely,
Jack, Sarah & Aaron Keller
Dear Praying Friends & Family,
For the last 2 ½ months I have tried to write this email to you…..but I just could never do it. Now we know why, the story wasn’t finished…God was orchestrating something so amazing and so wonderful for little Baby-M. We just needed to be still until He had finished writing the story. Now, God has given me release to write. As I do, the tears are flowing…tears of joy….tears of sadness….but mostly tears of awe as we consider what God has done for Baby-M.
At the beginning of June, Jack and I discovered that we were once again pregnant – expecting another baby February 6, 2011. At the time, things were not going well with Baby-M's adoption. His paperwork was not in order, his forms hadn’t been signed and court closure was looming on the horizon. Despite these circumstances, God gave us a great peace that He would work all of the details out.
About two weeks later, we received a call from our adoption agency that would forever change our lives. They told us that Baby-M's case was “hopeless” that his case was “impossible” and that we needed to accept another referral. Baby-M would be returned to his original orphanage to spend the rest of his life. We were heartbroken. It took several days for the realization to hit that Baby-M would never come home, that he would never meet his big brother, that we would never get to snuggle him, kiss him and or rock him to sleep. God was asking us to lay Baby-M down…..our Isaac. Even though we shed many tears, we never stopped praying for Baby-M and for his release because we knew that “impossible” was not acceptable because nothing is impossible for our God.
That brings us to today. Last Thursday, we again received a call from our agency…one that we didn’t expect. This time the news was much different. This time with great joy in her voice, the director of our agency told us that Baby-M's papers were in order, his papers had been signed and he was ready to come home! God has done the impossible!! Baby-M has been released – our prayers have been answered and we are once again in awe.
As I talked to our agency about Baby-M's projected homecoming date, she said that if everything went smoothly, Baby-M would come home the end of January – beginning of February…the same time our second baby is due to be born.
Once again, we were faced with a decision – one that we never thought we would be making. Our agency granted us the weekend to pray about how to proceed. They said that even though we were pregnant that would let us proceed; however, they needed us to be absolutely sure that we could proceed…that we were aware of the fact that both of these children would be arriving in our family at the same time. They wanted us to consider all that that would mean for both of these children and our family.
It is so difficult to write the rest of this email….there were many things that we needed to consider, special circumstances that couldn’t be ignored, we prayed about what would be in Baby-M's best interest, new baby’s best interest….for us the most unselfish thing that we could do was once again lay Baby-M down, but this time it wouldn’t mean him going back to an orphanage….this time it means that another wonderful adoptive family will have the privilege of calling him son.
I have to be honest, I was afraid to write this email….afraid that our decision would be judged, that we would be judged, but I rest in the fact that we are making this decision because we want what is best for Baby-M. We want to be fair to him and his needs. We want Baby-M to be given the care, attention, bonding time, etc. that he will need right away that would be difficult for us to give with his homecoming overlapping with new baby’s birth.
Either way, Baby-M wins! He is coming home….even if it is not to our home. We love Baby-M dearly. Jack told me last night, “Sarah, there will always and forever be a void in my heart for Baby-M.” Yes, there will be. Our hearts and arms will always ache for Baby-M, but in our sadness, we are rejoicing in the miracle that God has done to release Baby-M and allow him to be adopted. To grow up in a forever family!
And so it seems like our journey to Baby-M is complete…with the best ending there could be….Baby-M will have a home…parents that love him and rock him and kiss him and tell him how precious he is. We will continue to pray for the child that God has for us over in Ethiopia and look forward to the day when we will get to meet him/her.
Thank you again for praying and for standing in the gap for Baby-M. We long for the day that we can meet Baby-M and tell him about you and your faithful love and prayers for him, even if it is in heaven.
Sincerely,
Jack, Sarah & Aaron Keller
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Verse for the Day
Exodus 10:1-2
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Return to Pharaoh and make your demands again. I have made him and his officials stubborn so I can display my miraculous signs among them. I've also done it so you can tell you children and grandchildren about how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and about the signs I displayed among them-and so you will know that I am the LORD."
Would it be that the events leading to Miki's release and homecoming would display the Lord's glory and serve to bodly proclaim to our children and theirs that THE LORD IS GOD!
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Return to Pharaoh and make your demands again. I have made him and his officials stubborn so I can display my miraculous signs among them. I've also done it so you can tell you children and grandchildren about how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and about the signs I displayed among them-and so you will know that I am the LORD."
Would it be that the events leading to Miki's release and homecoming would display the Lord's glory and serve to bodly proclaim to our children and theirs that THE LORD IS GOD!
New Hope
Dear Family & Friends,
Our family wanted to send out a quick update and thank you email to all of you who have been on this journey of prayer and fasting for Baby-M these last several weeks. Today is May 9th. Today is the day that has been set aside on the Ethiopian calendar to indicate that from this point forward, families whose cases are submitted to court will need to travel twice. As I sit here and type this email, we don't have any additional or new information than we had several weeks ago when I sent out the first email concerning Baby-M's case other than that he still needs his approval letter signed.
Baby-M's form is still waiting to be signed and our case is still waiting to be submitted to the court. Although we have had many opportunities to be downcast and discouraged (some that we have taken), God has given us new hope.
Even though it seems that the situation has not changed, we trust and believe that we serve a Great God who is more than capable of moving the mountains that are keeping Baby-M in Ethiopia.
I would have loved to send out an email today proclaiming Baby-M's release or even news of a court date. Although we don't yet have that news, the news we do have is so much greater! God is God. God is in control. God is Good. God loves Baby-M...sees Baby-M... and WILL BRING BABY-M HOME!
God is at work...even though we we can't visible see the evidence of his movement in the situation with Baby-M.
I have been reading in Exodus this last week and have been so ministered to by the story of Moses. The Israelites were in desperate need of deliverance and God heard them and sent a deliverer to rescue them. We pray that He will do the same for Baby-M.
Thank you for being a part of this journey. Thank you for praying for our son. We ask that you would continue to pray for him as God brings him to your mind and heart. We will continue to send out prayer updates and any new information that we receive.
We often think and talk about how amazing it will be to tell Baby-M the story of his homecoming and these events are serving to make the story even more miraculous. How we long for the day to tell Baby-M about you and your prayers and love for him too. Thank you again for serving our family through prayer!
May God get great Glory through Baby-M's story and life,
Jack, Sarah & Aaron Keller
Our family wanted to send out a quick update and thank you email to all of you who have been on this journey of prayer and fasting for Baby-M these last several weeks. Today is May 9th. Today is the day that has been set aside on the Ethiopian calendar to indicate that from this point forward, families whose cases are submitted to court will need to travel twice. As I sit here and type this email, we don't have any additional or new information than we had several weeks ago when I sent out the first email concerning Baby-M's case other than that he still needs his approval letter signed.
Baby-M's form is still waiting to be signed and our case is still waiting to be submitted to the court. Although we have had many opportunities to be downcast and discouraged (some that we have taken), God has given us new hope.
Even though it seems that the situation has not changed, we trust and believe that we serve a Great God who is more than capable of moving the mountains that are keeping Baby-M in Ethiopia.
I would have loved to send out an email today proclaiming Baby-M's release or even news of a court date. Although we don't yet have that news, the news we do have is so much greater! God is God. God is in control. God is Good. God loves Baby-M...sees Baby-M... and WILL BRING BABY-M HOME!
God is at work...even though we we can't visible see the evidence of his movement in the situation with Baby-M.
I have been reading in Exodus this last week and have been so ministered to by the story of Moses. The Israelites were in desperate need of deliverance and God heard them and sent a deliverer to rescue them. We pray that He will do the same for Baby-M.
Thank you for being a part of this journey. Thank you for praying for our son. We ask that you would continue to pray for him as God brings him to your mind and heart. We will continue to send out prayer updates and any new information that we receive.
We often think and talk about how amazing it will be to tell Baby-M the story of his homecoming and these events are serving to make the story even more miraculous. How we long for the day to tell Baby-M about you and your prayers and love for him too. Thank you again for serving our family through prayer!
May God get great Glory through Baby-M's story and life,
Jack, Sarah & Aaron Keller
Monday, January 11, 2010
God provides....
God is so faithful! It never ceases to amaze me how many times He interrupts situations to bring about His sovereign will.
These past several days we have seen yet again how faithful God is! On Friday, everything with our adoption seemed to be a giant mess. Important documents weren't where they needed to be, our paperwork had been filed incorrectly (instead of being filed as if we were escorting...they were filed as if we were traveling); however, God used each of these little setbacks to reveal His plan for how we were to proceed.
The New Plan:
I will be traveling to Ethiopia, along with a dear friend to pick up Baby M. We have never felt peace with Jack going just because of how oversees travel could affect his health. We want to keep Jack as healthy as we can so I will just be traveling. We also didn't feel peace about me going by myself and so God raised up a wonderful travel partner to accompany me!
There are still circumstances that we are waiting for God to work out, but we are confident that He will work them out in his timing!
Just today we found out that we have every penny that we will need to bring Baby M home! God has provided!!! He is so faithful....Three years ago, we didn't know how we would do it but God has and we have all of the finances that we need! Thank you Lord for ALWAYS providing for Your will to be accomplished in our lives!
These past several days we have seen yet again how faithful God is! On Friday, everything with our adoption seemed to be a giant mess. Important documents weren't where they needed to be, our paperwork had been filed incorrectly (instead of being filed as if we were escorting...they were filed as if we were traveling); however, God used each of these little setbacks to reveal His plan for how we were to proceed.
The New Plan:
I will be traveling to Ethiopia, along with a dear friend to pick up Baby M. We have never felt peace with Jack going just because of how oversees travel could affect his health. We want to keep Jack as healthy as we can so I will just be traveling. We also didn't feel peace about me going by myself and so God raised up a wonderful travel partner to accompany me!
There are still circumstances that we are waiting for God to work out, but we are confident that He will work them out in his timing!
Just today we found out that we have every penny that we will need to bring Baby M home! God has provided!!! He is so faithful....Three years ago, we didn't know how we would do it but God has and we have all of the finances that we need! Thank you Lord for ALWAYS providing for Your will to be accomplished in our lives!
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