Thanks to those of you who prayed for us over the last two days!  Our meetings both went really well! 

Adam and I had a phone meeting with EAC (our international agency) on Wednesday and it was very encouraging.  Our adoption consultant is very sweet and you can tell that she absolutely loves what she does which I am so thankful for.  Basically, she told us that we needed to get started on our home study right away and at the same time, start sending her all of the registration documents that EAC needs in order to forward them to Ghana to get us registered.  These are things like, birth certificates, marriage certificates, tax returns, financial statements, proof of insurance, etc.  The list goes on and on! The most exciting thing that came out of the meeting was that after we submit our dossier to Ghana (this process usually takes 3-6 months), they are averaging a 4-6 month wait time on referrals for a child.  This is very exciting!!!  This also means that the child God has picked out for us has already been born.  When I think about this, I am overcome with a heavy heart and extreme worry for what our child is going through but I am repeating Philipians 4:6-7 over and over in prayer...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.   And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Please pray with us that God would provide food, adequate medical care and someone to snuggle on our little person until we get there!

We had our first home study interview today with CCC (our local home study agency) and that went really well but much more intense than yesterdays meeting.  I knew this would be the case since we are basically being interviewed for whether or not we will be a good fit for an adopted child.  This makes me so nervous!!!  I have been praying over the last two days that God would relieve my anxiety about these meetings and that he would guide our answers to their questions and I feel like he answered that prayer today!  Some of the questions were a bit hard but God gave us the words to answer and I am so grateful!  I left the meeting looking like a deer in headlights for lack of a better term.  I knew this was going to require a lot of paperwork but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now.  Please pray that Adam and I will take all of this one step at a time and that we will feel God holding our hand through it.  I am praying I can keep my focus on what God has planned for us and that we do not get bogged down in all of the details.  We have a huge list of documents to gather for the home study as well so I am going to get started on those today!  Along with all of the paperwork, we have two more interviews and one home visit where our case worker will look through our home and see us interact with our children.  The thought of someone coming into our home to see if it meets some set of standards almost gives me a physical reaction :-)  Our case worker promised she is nothing like Martha Stewart and that although it needs to be liveable, it doesn't need to be spotless.  She jokingly told me that she was going to show up unannounced and I think she could tell that was not funny to me!  ha ha!  We also have parenting classes and adoption classes that we are signed up for in July as a requirement for this process. 

One of our friends came up to us at our church picnic last weekend and said he could not believe there was so much money and paperwork that went into adoption.  He thought you just went and signed a piece of paper and they gave you an orphan to take home.  I keep being reminded of this everytime I get a new list of stuff we have to do and it makes me smile.  I am so thankful that God does not require all of this to be adopted into his family! 

So now I can't decide whether to start filling something out, start making appointments for our physicals or lay on the couch for a few minutes while the kids nap...I think I will rest for a minute but for those of you who know me well, you know this will not last long!  God has called us to this and although everyone needs a little rest, I need to make sure I am doing everything I can to bring this little person he has picked out for us home as quickly as possible....after all, they are waiting for us!

Lynsey

We are on our way!

This past week has been a very exciting week!  Adam and I wanted to wait a bit to tell most of our friends that God had called us to adoption to make sure that we were approved first and we are very glad to announce... the cat is finally out of the bag!  We sent in our completed contract and the first half of the EAC adoption program fee last week so we are finally on our way!  The contract was huge and it took us a very long time to read and sign!  It kind of reminded me of buying a house and all the paperwork you have to fill out and this is just the beginning!  We received our EAC Ghana Adoption Guide and Registration pack in the mail over the weekend and it is 5 chapters long and about 250 pages so I will have a little light reading to complete over the next few days!  We are very excited and we give all praise and glory to God, our father who loves us enough to carry us through this!  We have two meetings this week that we would like for you to pray for.  The first meeting is on Wednesday with our international adoption agency and the second meeting is on Thursday with our local home study agency.  Please pray that we will ask all of the questions we need to and that the meetings will go smoothly.  We thank you for your prayers and we know that God is going to do amazing things through this adoption. 

(As reminded this morning at church)
Your co-worker in God's kingdom,
Lynsey

God has called and we are answering…

This may come as a HUGE surprise to some and much anticipated news to others…Adam and I have just received news that we have been approved to begin our journey of adopting one (or possibly more!) of God’s children into our family!  After much prayer and leading from God, we are following His call to adopt from Ghana.  We do not know who this little person is yet but our God does!   What we do know is this child does not know the warm and loving embrace of a mother, or the joy of a piggy-back ride from a father. They do not know what it feels like to be tucked in and kissed goodnight, warm and safe in a caring home.  This child has yet to receive full medical attention and proper, nutritious food.  We cannot wait to bring this little person home, to hold him/her in our arms, and always provide a hand for them to hold as they grow.  No words can capture the true joy and excitement we feel as we anticipate the blessing of this child’s presence in our home and we are so grateful to God that He has called us to adopt!

We would like to invite you to be a part of our adoption by helping in a couple of different ways.  First of all, we need your prayers!  We have a long way to go and we need God’s help! Please pray…

·   For strength and endurance during the information gathering stage and that the process will go smoothly.  We will have medical tests, home visits, interviews, FBI background checks, etc.    
·   That God would move mountains to bring our son/daughter home and in the meantime that He would provide protection for them and someone to love and snuggle them until we get there. 
·   For God’s provision for the many expenses associated with adoption. 

We really felt that going to Africa would be next to impossible because of the high costs of an international adoption.  We also know that the Lord is leading us to adopt and believe God is bigger than finances, so we are truly relying on faith that God will provide.  This adoption will cost in the neighborhood of $29,000.  I know that sounds like a lot (and it is), but just as Nehemiah and the Israelites rebuilt the wall in Jerusalem one stone at a time, we are relying on God for $1 at a time. James tells us “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”   Not every believer is called to adopt, but every one of us is called to help.  Because God commands His church to help, we would be amiss if we didn’t also ask for help from families and friends who may be willing to donate to bring one of God’s children home – no amount is too small!  Our plan also includes applying for as many grants as possible and we are praying that doors will open for the money to come through. We trust that God will provide the funds needed to complete this adoption.

BE BOLD!

The Witness Commission at Summerdean Church and Pastor Stafford Frederick invite you to join us at 6 pm on Saturday, July 14th at Summerdean Church for a fundraising dinner. We will share about God's call to us in this regard and about the country we are adopting from, what the children are like there and what all goes into such an undertaking of bringing one of God's children into the Summerdean faith community and our home.  The menu for the dinner is chicken, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits with apple butter and apple crisp with ice cream for dessert.  We will be accepting a love offering and in addition will have a few items for purchase in support of this ministry.  We invite you to join us on July 14th, 6:00 p.m.  Please rsvp by July 8th to summerdeanchurch@verizon.net or 540-366-6835. Your response will be greatly appreciated as we plan and prepare for the dinner.

Thank you for taking the time to let us share our journey of ministry with you.

Sincerely,

  Adam & Lynsey Stultz

“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me.” – Matthew 25:40