We Made It!!!

We made it!  We arrived last night around 6pm which was just a little bit later than planned.  We met Xavier from the hotel right when we walked through border control with a big smile and a friendly handshake!  It did take quite a while to get our luggage but the process wasn’t too bad and we began the drive to the hotel around 7:30 which was about 30 minutes from the airport.  The drive was interesting….it was dark and raining and the driver was honking the horn constantly and slamming on the brakes.  He even rolled down his window to yell at a few people J  Adam and I were both surprised by the amount of people on the side of the roads…they were everywhere! 

We got to the hotel right about 8pm and our contacts from our agency and four other couples with their kids met us outside and gave us a very warm welcome.  I of course was so excited I am not sure I even said hello to all of them before I asked if Elysee was there and one of the ladies said we have a little surprise and there they were!  Both of them!  They were barely awake since it was past their bedtime but we got to hold them and kiss them…it was definitely one of the best moments in my life.  It felt exactly the same as when I held Eva and Eli for the first time J 

We went into our hotel room and did not even lay Elysee down on her bed before she was asleep!  The night went pretty good.  We didn’t have a bed for the baby so she slept in between Adam and I which I was really nervous about and then Elysee was laying next to us on a twin bed and she was all over the place and just about fell out of bed a few times so I was up a lot putting her back in the middle of the bed.  The baby only woke up once to eat and then it took her awhile to go back to sleep but she didn’t cry J  She just played.

This morning we woke Elysee up at 7 because they said she usually gets up to eat at 6 and she was so tired that she fell asleep at the table sitting up…literally…Adam caught her before she fell over!  So we put her back to bed for about an hour and then she got up and was a little happier J  She ate a piece of toast and a granola bar for breakfast and played patty cake with me for a bit.

Adam went to the grocery store which he said was a lot like a CVS combined with a grocery store and got us some food for the week.  When he got back we decided to take the girls over to swim but Elysee was not having that!  I am sure she had never seen a pool before and even though all her friends were in there, she did not want to get in so we went back to the room to make lunch and she started to cry and cry and cry.  She was screaming the same word over and over.  I can’t even explain to you what this did to my heart!  I had no idea what she was saying so after a bit, I walked her over the office to see if Xavier from the airport was there and he was and he immediately took her in his arms and said…we be back… and he took off with her to find one of the ladies that works at the hotel and they calmed her right down.  They carried her back to our room and got her some M&M’s and talked to her for a bit about us being her mama and papa and how we loved her and we had food for her and she was going to have fun with us…and then she sat in my arms clinging to me while she ate a peanut butter sandwich, a banana, some yogurt and a granola bar!  Then I climbed in bed with her and she fell asleep holding my hand and the Tiana doll we brought her J 

The baby is full of giggles and toothless grins!  She is eating and sleeping well so far and seems to be a really happy baby.

Please pray that God would give both of them a sense of peace with us.  Elysee seems to be a little scared but that is probably normal.  She has lived in 5 places in her three years of life with multiple new caregivers and we are just two more to her right now that she does not know.  Pray the Lord would bond us quickly and give us a love for each other that only he can give. 

Continue to pray for Eva and Eli too…Susan said they are doing well but Eva was a little upset last night because she didn’t get to say goodbye to us on Skype…our connection kept failing.  And silly as it may seem, pray that our internet works enough to call them every day J

Thank you for your prayers!

Lynsey

Brussels

Good Morning!  Adam and I are sitting in the Brussels airport waiting to board our last flight of the weekend!  We should be in Kinshasa around 5:45 this evening (12:45pm EST) and then we are headed to the hotel to meet Elysee!  I cannot wait!

Yesterday, our flight from Washington to Brussels was pretty good…we were both able to get a few hours of sleep in J  When we got to Brussels, we checked in our hotel and headed out to see a bit of the city.  We had a really fun day!  We ate Belgian Waffles and Belgian Frites.  We also bought some Belgian chocolate to take back to the room and have been eating it since then!  I told Eva we would bring her some back but I think we are going to have to buy some more on our way back through next week J  We went to the Grand Place & the cathedral both of which were very beautiful. 

Grand Place

Manneken Pis - He He!

 Waffles :-)

Cathedral

We were able to Skype with Eva and Eli last night and they both seemed to be doing really well!  They were getting ready to have an Easter egg hunt with our family and were very excited. 

Please continue to pray for safety, peace for all six of us and for our time with our girls this week.

Thank you!

Lynsey

We Can't Wait!!!!!!

The last two months have been a whirlwind of activity!  We booked our flights, started preparing for our trip, finished up tax season, finished preschool...sigh...it has been exciting, busy and very stressful! 

Tax season ended (for me) last Saturday so my mom and I quickly cleaned our house which hadn't been done in...well...let's just say awhile :-)  Adam and I began packing and packing and packing.  We received over 100 pounds of supplies to take to the orphanage that our baby is living in right now.  We received lots of medicine, vitamins, antibiotic ointment and formula that we will deliver some time next week as well as $820 to purchase food for the orphanage when we get there. THANK YOU to everyone who made these donations possible!  We are in a state of constant amazement at the generosity of our friends and family!

We are just about completely packed and are ready to leave in about 53 hours...but who's counting?!? he he!

This week has been a roller coaster of emotions for me. 

Eight years ago this Saturday, April 19th, we got the phone call that my dad had passed away in an accident.  This remains to be the hardest day of my life.  I can remember that call like it happened last night and still brings overwhelming sadness to my heart when I think of it.  I so wish he were here to see me as a wife and mother...to see my kids :-)  I know he would love playing with Eli, they both have an extreme love for cars!  And I know he would be amazed at our little Eva....how she can be exactly like me in some ways and not at all in others.  He would laugh that I ended up with a strong-willed little girl and I know he would tell me that it is only fair that I have to raise a child with the same qualities that he did!  I wish he would one day meet Elysee and her little sister. 

When I booked our flights on this day, I thought that maybe it wouldn't be a great day to leave.  It's always an emotional day for my family and I just wasn't sure but it worked out that this was the day we needed to leave so that was that.  I have thought about it a lot this week and I have decided that this was another blessing from God.  April 19th is always such a sad day for me but, this will be the year that the Lord blesses us with great happiness on this day!  It will forever be the day we left to go and meet two of our children for the first time!  The week that followed my father's passing was a week filled with horrible sadness and many, many tears but next week will be filled with lots of joy!  Oh how I love that the Lord has done this for me! 

I was also a little sad that we are not going to be here on Easter Sunday to worship our Lord with our friends and family and especially our kiddos but I am thankful that the Lord has reminded me this week of why we entered this adoption journey to begin with....

We are doing this because of his great love for us! 

We are doing this because we want to be Jesus' hands and feet on this earth to these two little girls. 

We are doing this because he asked us to and what could be a more fitting form of worship for Easter Sunday than to physically go and visit them! 

So now we are just ready!  I cannot wait to be there and to hold them in my arms...finally! 

We would like to ask you for some specific prayer requests :-)  Please pray for peace for Eva and Eli while we are gone.  Eva has had a few sad moments but is mostly excited about the fun she will have with her Grandma, PopPop and Nana!  Eli on the other hand has been a bit sad the last few days so please pray that God would give him peace.  Please pray for safety and peace for Adam and I and for a wonderful week with our daughters.  Pray for bonding between the four of us and pray for energy for Adam and I!  It has been awhile since we have taken care of a 4 month old and a three year old!  he he!  Please continue to pray for the paperwork we need to start the court processes for the baby...we are only waiting on one more document and pray for a favorable determination from USCIS for Elysee.  Most importantly, please pray that we would keep our focus on God this week....that he would open our eyes and our hearts to see his people as he sees them and that he would guide our actions to show his love to everyone we meet. 

Thank you so much for your continued support of our family on this journey. 

Lynsey

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! 

Leaving On A Jet Plane...

That's right!  We are... leaving, on a jet plane, don't know when we'll be back again...

oh never mind about the last part, we do know when we'll be back :-) 

Adam and I are heading to the DR Congo on April 19th through the 29th to visit (not bring home) our little girl!  We are super excited about spending a week hugging and loving on her...not so excited about leaving Eva and Eli here, but we know that they will be in great hands with the grand-parents. 

We don't have a ton of details yet except that we have booked our flights and I am counting down the days until we meet her!  We do know we will be using the majority of our suitcase space to take items to a couple of orphanages in Kinshasa so for those of you who may be interested in donating items, I will post a list of needed items soon. 

We still do not have the required documents to deliver to USCIS on March 3rd so please continue to pray that the Lord will provide everything we need to bring her home and that the DR Congo will lift the suspension of exit visas. 

Trusting in Him,
Lynsey

"God Makes a Way"

On Wednesday morning, Adam came downstairs during my prayer time and interrupted me to show me an e-mail from one of our adoption agency workers, Debra,  who is currently in Kinshasa.  The e-mail was very exciting news and a long awaited answer to prayer ….I will be able to share a little more soon, I hope J  I praised the Lord for his faithfulness and love for his children and was just overwhelmed with joy! 

Then about thirty minutes later, Adam went outside to get the mail that we had neglected to get the previous day and there was a “Request for Evidence” letter from the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services.  This letter detailed that we need ten more documents from the DR Congo regarding our daughter’s adoption and orphan status.  All ten of these documents need to be obtained, translated into English and mailed to USCIS by March 3^rd or the letter states her adoption will be denied.  I immediately began to pray because I felt like this was going to be impossible!  We have learned over the last twenty months that “African time” is much different than “American time” and I just felt like the time frame was going to be impossible to meet.  Well, Adam took the letter to work to scan and send to our adoption agency and I stayed at home with the kids.  I sat down on the couch with them and Eva wanted to pick out her Bible story from her “Jesus Storybook Bible” for the morning so she flipped to a story in the Old Testament and asked me to read it.  I looked down at the Bible and began to smile when I saw she picked the story entitled, “God makes a way.”  This is the story of God parting the Red Sea from Exodus 14-15.  We got to the part in the story where God’s people are on the shore, in front of the sea, and Pharaoh’s army is behind them and they have nowhere to go and the story says…

“…they did the only thing there was left to do – PANIC!

“We’re going to die!” They shrieked. 

“Don’t be afraid!” Moses said. 

“But there’s nothing we can do!” they screamed.

 “God knows you can’t do anything!” Moses said.  “God will do it for you.  Trust him.  And watch!” 

I did the same thing they did and I heard God tell me the same thing Moses told them…trust and watch. 

Adam called a little bit later to tell me that he had e-mailed the letter to Debra in the DR Congo and she said that our attorney was with her and he was going to get started on obtaining the documents today! 

I thank God for many things…first that we received a bit of encouraging news before the bad news J  I am thankful that Debra is in the DR Congo and could get the information to our attorney immediately!  And I am thankful that God gave me his peace through a story I have read many times before but needed to hear again yesterday morning. 

God knows that we need these documents to bring her home and I know that he is the only one who can make this happen.  Please join us in praying that God will provide everything we need to bring her home. 

Lynsey