8 More Days till Africa!!!

We CAN NOT WAIT!!! 2 weeks in Africa - with our little Zoe Andrela. I can't wait to get back and post some awesome cute pictures of her!!

Prayer Requests:

1. Relationship building & bonding with Zoe Andrela while we are in Africa. We are going to get to spend some very concentrated time together on a very long bus ride and some sweet time in North Ghana for a week!

2. For all of our court proceedings, paperwork filings, and travels to go smoothly. Pray for favor with Ghanaian authorities as we move through the process at court and the embassy!

3. Pray for our 2 sweet boys at home with their grandparents. They are very excited about spending 2 weeks with grandparents. I was away last week in Texas for 4 days and was dying to get home...2 weeks sure is a lot longer! Pray for me and Mark too cause I know we'll be missing our boys!!

We hope to update facebook via Mark's phone while in Ghana. Check there for updates.

It's really happening y'all!
Amy

PayPal - Requests!

Hey Hey!

We had several emails and requests asking about PayPal - We just set up a link on the blog that will take you directly to our church's paypal account. If you give this way, please make sure that you send a follow up email to finance@thechapelbrunswick.com & cc: me so that they will know that donation should go to the adoption fund and not general funds.

THANK YOU for asking us!!!!

HUGE Praise!! We had some dear friends from church call last night and give us enough SkyMiles for an ENTIRE ticket from Savannah all the way to Accra!! THANK YOU, Lord!!!

Thanks to our sweet friends, Kim & James!!! Y'all are the BEST!!!! MANY, MANY blessings in return!!!!

Love!

HERE WE GO!!!!

Well....forward motion...Ghana - Here we come! We got a phone call last week that our program has made some definitive changes so as to be proactive with some procedure changes that are happening in Ghana. We definitely will be taking 2 trips to Ghana...and the first one is in 3 WEEKS!!!. Our heads are SPINNING!!

We're coming to get you, Zoe Andrela!!

We will now have to physically appear in court for our adoption decree. Zoe Andrela is from the Upper East region of Ghana which is very rural. We will fly into Accra with 2 other American families and then the next day take a 13-hour bus-ride to the Upper East region. (WITH ZOE!!) We will sign papers and then, hopefully, appear in court within the next 2 days. We should then, hopefully, receive our adoption decree within a day or two after that - and then be able to file our I-600 at the US Embassy in Ghana - which should be much quicker than our original (and less expensive) plan to file in the US. Then we will fly home....without Zoe :(. It should take less than 30 days to get this approval - then file for her Visa which typically takes 2-3 weeks - then go back and GET HER!! SO EXCITED! and a little bit shell-shocked - not gonna lie!

So, here are some things that we need and that you can pray for!

*$$$ - we still plan to have our benefit concert and are waiting for a date on this from our friend. We had planned to have this in late April and now our travel dates will be prior to this!
*Our trip will take approx. 15-17 days - pray for our boys during this long time away from both of us.
*Pray for Zoe Andrela - our relationships and bonding during our 2 weeks together.

*Our plane fare to Ghana will cost Approx. 130,000 SkyMiles! If you have these and would consider allowing us to use these to purchase our tickets, let us know!! We would be SO Grateful!!

Our church has set up an adoption fund if anybody wants to send tax-deductible funds - please don't write our names on the check, just put a note in the envelope with it!
The Chapel UMC
114 Harris Farm Road
Brunswick, GA
Phone: 912-262-1331

We are not worried or anxious at all! We know the Lord has called our family to adopt our Ghanaian beauty and we know He knows every step we will make and where every resource will come from!

Thanks for being excited with us!! Keep praying!! We'll keep you updated!!
Love!
Amy

PLEASE VOTE!!! MAP, International!

A very dear friend of ours is the President of an incredible international ministry that serves the global world. MAP is based in our town. They are running a contest to 'Vote for a Hero'. For every vote, Dohmen Company Foundation will donate $1 to MAP to fight Neglected Tropical Diseases and the closer the heroes get to their goal.

Go to Map, International and Vote!
MAP International.

MAP International, a Christian health ministry, promotes the total health of people living in the world's poorest communities by providing essential medicines, promoting community health development, and preventing and mitigating disease, disaster, and other health threats.

Serving over 33 million people in more 117 countries, we are a certified 501c3 with a 99% efficiency rating and a 55 year track record of providing health and hope for a hurting world.

You can vote every day up till March 20! They are trying to get $50,000 votes! Vote every day!!

Spontaneity at it's BEST!!

What an AMAZING weekend! Mark and I LOVE to lay around the house and do nothing. Seriously. We both work hard and play hard. But I also love to sleep, I'm not gonna lie. I'm a great dreamer and going to sleep is like going to the movies! I love it! But every now & then we get the notion to go a little off the beaten path. Friday, Mark had the day off. After sending the kids to school:

Mark: Let's go somewhere this weekend.
Me: Let's take the kids to Disney World!
Mark: Ok!

We looked up cheapo hotels online - found one for $35 a night!!! Packed the car - got the kids after school and headed to Orlando! (which is only 3 hours away)

We had SO much fun! The kids had a blast! Mark and I relaxed. I know you are probably thinking 'How can you relax at DW??" We just decided to BE. We weren't in a hurry. We didn't try to do everything. We soaked up just being with the kids. We laughed alot. We dreamed. (daydreaming...not sleep-dreaming!)

We didn't take a family vacation last year since we started saving money for the adoption. We had been considering a trip for just the 4 of us before we bring home Zoe and this was perfect. The kids were really surprised too!

So awesome!