With a Full Heart!

I begin this message with a heart full of awe! God has provided the full $22,000.00 for Nyah's adoption. I want to sing at the top of my lungs "How Can I Keep From Praising His Name?"

We received out Travel Approval on Tuesday, September 2. This was quick! We should be getting our Consulate Appointment tomorrow.

I found out that some family of ours has put in the final amount of money that we needed to bring Nyah home. They told us that if anyone wants to put in anymore money they won't turn it down if we give it to them, but that we do not need to pay them back. This comes the night before we have to make travel arrangements. As usual, God is never late, but is not always early. He wants us to trust Him with all our heart and soul.

I began this day with two feelings. One, I was scared out of my mind. I felt that I was standing on the edge of a cliff and jumping. Either I was jumping to my death or into the hands of God.
I was thinking about how we were going to come up with the final $4,800.00, how was I going to be a mom of 4 children, how was I going to do my job, how, how, how... The second feeling that I was experiencing was total excitement. I couldn't wait to get my hands on that little girl and make her smile, laugh and feel the love that God wants her to know.

I prayed that God would show me the way and how I am supposed to make it. We have jumped and there is no going back. And LOOK WHAT GOD HAS DONE!!!

I pray that I will never doubt again. I pray that our story only inspires others to jump off the cliff into God's safe hands.

Please know that God has orchestrated this from the beginning. We have no doubt that God wants Nyah to be ours. My dad reminded me that God not only provided $22,000 for Nyah's adoptions but $22,000 for Emma's as well. In less than two years God provided $44,000.00 for Nyah and Emma to have a home. This is not a human task, this is a God task.

I love you all and thank you with all of my heart.

I will attach the final financial breakdown, so that you can see how God provided.

Melody

New Pictures of Nyah

Nyah and Joy
There cribs were right across from each other
and they had the same foster mom.

Well here we go. We had an exciting weekend. We received our Letter of Acceptance on Friday. On Monday I went into the adoption agency with the signed acceptance letter. While I was there it was determined that we could have two possible dates of travel. One is October 3 -15. That would be fabulous and we could be home for both Jeremy and Nyah's birthday. The problem is that there is a trade show in Guangzhou. This makes hotel rooms limited available. It starts on October 14th. HMMMMM. God is gonna have to work on this date.

The more possible date is leaving on October 10th and returning on October 24th. The problem with this date is that Nyah will turn two while we are there. We will then have to pay extra on the hotel and flights for Nyah because she will be over two. This will add $900.00 to the trip.

Hmmm. Again God will have to work on this as well.

While at the agency Janell (one of our agents) called a family that lives in Spokane. They adopted Nyah's foster sister. We went over to her house and received pictures of Nyah. We are also going to get video. It was awesome.

We found out that Nyah is living in an orphanage. We thought it was a foster home. The nanny who has been with the girls since Nyah got there, spends the days with the girls and goes home at night. The girls are very close. I can't wait to get to know this family and let the girls grow up together.

We are so excited. Please pray as we try to raise the final funds and pray for God's timing in going to get our little one.

LOA is HERE!!!!

It is official! We are now the proud parents of Nyah Hope Lund. We got word today that our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) has arrived. This means that China has approved us and we are now officially Nyah's parents. We will sign and send the appropriate paper work on Monday. We should receive Travel Approval within 2 weeks. It looks like we will not get to go until October (Late).

This is such a blessing and reassuring thing to know that we are now official. God is so good. October is a better time for Melody's job. Now we have to get busy and pack, send for Visa's, get paperwork ready, shop...
So many things to do.

Pray for us as we try to finish getting ready for a little person to join our family.
Mel

Waiting, Waiting and More Waiting!!!

Well, I have been waiting to update until I had good news. At this moment we are still waiting to get our Letter of Acceptance (LOA) from China. We are currently (August 5) at 104 days from our Log In Date (LID). This was a long wait until the last month. Now with the Olympics it is becoming the norm. We have received word that China Offices have gone to split shifts due to the traffic rules set up in Beijing due to the Olympics. That means that the wait could continue longer than before.

Sooooo.... what this means for me is that I need to go on with my life. It is obvious that we will probably not go to China until October. So I am in the process of getting all paperwork done, packing (Minus our clothes) and so on. I will not be able to do much of this work once school starts (3 1/2 weeks from now ...UGH!).

Please continue to pray for us as we wait and trust God. I have had great days and bad days. I do know that God has a day and time planned. My worrying is not helping. Please also continue to pray for the final finances to be provided.

We love you all.
Eric and Melody

Latest News From China

I know that many of you are wondering if we have any news from China. As you know, we had hoped to be headed to China sometime in July. That is not to be. We had a medical letter problem that added a full month to the process. The Olympics have also added to that time. So, sadly I am now planning for Late August or mid September. This goes directly into my job.

I have already started working and planning for the school year so that I will be better able to be gone from school. This will be a difficult time and I do not know how it all will work. What I do know is that Nyah needs a family. We still believe that this is where God is leading. We will change our mind when God shuts the doors, not us. Sooooooo, we continue to wait and pray that God provides the final funds, that he provides the right work situations so that we can go when we are called and that God continues to hold our little Nyah in his hands.

We choose to continue to trust God in all of this. What He started He will finish. Now... I have to admit that I have many FREAK OUT DAYS!!!! So please continue to pray for me as I try to juggle all that I am trying to do. Please continue to pray for the funds needed and please pray for Eric, the kids and I as we get ready for work, school and travel.

God has done amazing things. You can look at the earlier blog that shows the financial breakdown. God has provided $16,000.00. We are still in need of at least $6,300 to go but we are getting there.

Just wanted to also show you current pictures of the family. Emma had her 2nd birthday and Gotch ya Day in July. She is such a blessing to our family. We are so blessed with 3, almost 4 wonderful children. If you want to check out Emma's Blogspot for more pictures you can go to http://tohelpemmafly.blogspot.com

Please continue to pray,

Melody and Family

News from China

As some of you know, we had a paper problem in China the 1st week in June. We sent off the letter changes and have been quietly praying and trusting that God would take care of us and Nyah. We did hear that China received the letter and thought it looked OK. We are now waiting for the final approval letter. Once we have that we will need to sign and notarize that yes we still want this child. That letter will be sent back to China and we will wait a couple more weeks to get Travel approval. Once we have this we will need to have our agency set up a consulate appointment. We are then able to make travel plans. All this said, it is any ones guess as to when we will go. I am still praying for July. You can see with all the paperwork process to go that it will be a huge act of God for us to go in July. I will still trust that God knows all that needs to happen.
Keep praying for us,
Melody

Garage Sale Results

We had a great couple of garage Sales. We had one a couple of weeks ago on a VERY rainy day. We still made $200.00 on that day. This last weekend, 20th and the 21st we made exactly $600.00. Wow! We still have so much stuff that we are thinking that we need to have one more garage sale. We hope to do it in CDA. We will see.

THANK YOU everyone who donated. It made a difference. If you would like to see what our current ballance is, you can look at the post that says Finance Breakdown.

We are still waiting to hear from China about our paper work. Please pray for God's guidance and a peace at what ever comes.

Thank you again for all your help.