Long Awaited News...

I am so excited to share with everyone our long awaited news!!! 

A few months ago, Adam and I received all of Elysee's translated court documents giving us custody of her in the DRC and telling us that her name changed to Elysee Stultz :-)  Adam and I both sat down on the couch that night and read through all of the documents detailing what they were able to find out about her past and in all of the information one line read...."she is an only child." 

It was really a bittersweet moment.  We were excited to finally get all of the documents and to have custody of her but it was very sad learning all that we did about her past and, I will be honest, I really had been praying for siblings and it did not look like this was going to work out the way that I wanted it to.

The next morning, I was sitting in a Bible study when I got a text message from Adam and it said, "She has a half-sister."  Well I literally gasped!  One of my dear friends was sitting next to me and asked if it was okay and I showed her the text message and then both of us just started crying.  I quickly texted him back and asked, "How old is she?"  And Adam replied, "Born last night :-)."

Fast forward three and a half months and we finally have a referral for another little girl!

We are working very quickly to try and get everything together that we need to accept her referral.  We found out on Thursday night at 8:30 pm and we were getting our fingerprints done the next morning at 10:30 :-)  All the documents are in the mail so please pray that we will get quick responses on everything that we need. 

We leave in 20 days to go meet our little girls and I could not be more excited!  Yay!  A family of SIX!!! 

We will also be visiting an orphanage and are colleting some items to take with us so if you would like to donate anything, please let us know and we would be happy to pick it up!

These are the items they need:

·         Baby formula – powder, any brand/type

·         Children's Tylenol, Advil, or generic pain reliever

·         Children's cold, cough, and allergy medicine – Benedryl, Tussin, Dimetap, generics

·         Antibiotic Ointment

·         Children's multivitamins – no gummies please

·         Crib sheets

Thank you for your continued prayers and support! 

 

Lynsey

Encouragement

We have had a rough couple of weeks in the Stultz home. 

We have ALL been sick, some of us multiple times!

We do not have the paperwork we are supposed to turn in tomorrow to USCIS.

We got a medical bill in the mail from our agency for our daughter and she has been sick twice and I was not there to hold her....oh how this hurt my heart.

This has been a pretty low point for me.  About ten days ago we were coming to the end of the period where we needed to get the paperwork into translation or we were not going to meet the deadline and I was expecting God to work a miracle and he didn't.  I was very frustrated. 

I believe that my God is in control of EVERYTHING. 

He created EVERYTHING. 

He owns EVERYTHING. 

He can see EVERYTHING. 

And I was very frustrated because I know that he can provide the paperwork we need but for whatever reason he chose not to and this was really upsetting to me. 

I took my eyes off of Jesus and started to focus on all my circumstances and this is where I began to fall apart.  I started to focus on what we didn't have instead of the crazy amount of blessings we do have.  I started to focus on my plan instead of His. 

I sat on the couch with Adam after we purchased our tickets to travel to the DRC and told him I wasn't sure that was a very wise decision.  I knew that I needed to go and visit her because I don't know when she will ever come home but we are also at the end of our financial resources and so I started adding up all the things that we are going to need to pay for with the adoption as this journey keeps going and going and Adam just said, "stop."  He asked me,

"Do you still believe that God has called us to do this?"   

and I said, "Yes."

and he said,  "then don't worry about it.  He will take care of it."

Now I have seen God work miracle after miracle through this process but for whatever reason, I chose to not focus on that but to focus on my current circumstances and I began to worry.  I prayed that God would give me some encouragement and he did :-)

That week, we received four very unexpected checks totaling $1,201!  God reminded me again that he sees our circumstances and he is working! 

Then I received four cards in the mail from four different people.  The interesting thing about these four cards was who they were from.  These are people that I do not talk to all the time.  Two of them, I see on a pretty regular basis but the other two I may talk to every few months and God chose to lay on their hearts that I needed encouragement all in the same week!  I have decided to hang these cards where I can see them every day to remind me that God does see me and he does hear me and he has sent me wonderful friends to be his hands and feet on this earth. 

This past week has gotten better.  Maybe it was because we were all well or maybe because we were able to get an extension from USCIS (Praise God!) but I think it has more to do with my focus.  I can see that most of my discouragement comes from my expectations not being met and this is where the problem starts.  I have my plan in my head and when God doesn't work according to my plan, then I get upset.  Where in the Bible do I see that God is supposed to act according to my plan?  NOWHERE!  My plan does not look like his plan because he knows everything and I do not! 

The last couple of weeks has really tested my faith. 

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it."

I believe that God was asking me to have faith in him even when I can't see him doing anything because I know that he is!  I know that he is working all things for my good and his glory! 

James 1:2-4 says "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Oh how I pray that I can learn to rejoice in the midst of trials instead of focusing on my circumstances.  I am thankful that the Lord has chosen to increase my faith and I pray that I would allow him to mold me everyday to look more and more like the person he wants me to be. 

We were able to get an extension from USCIS through April 14th.  We were told this is the maximum extension that is allowed so please be in prayer that God will provide all that we need to bring her home. 

I want to say THANK YOU to all of my friends who have prayed for us...we are receiving encouragement from the Lord through you!