MIRACLES!!

Monday was a very, very sad day. It was supposed to be happy and exiting!  We were so thrilled to be featured on Give1 Save1 [that was the good news of the day].  On a sidenote, thank-you so mucn for sharing and giving!  We are almost halfway there!!  Ok, now back to the bad news...it was an email and it said...

"Dear Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins,

 

Please be advised that your visa interview appointments were missed today, and that we have rescheduled the interviews forAugust 21, 2013 at 9:00 am."

We had no idea what this meant or why the girls appointment was missed so I forwarded it to our case manager and waited for an email or a phone call. I sobbed all day!  I didn't know for sure what had happened but I was certain it was a setback. Finally, that evening, I got a call from our case manager, she explained there had been some miscommunication between the incountry staff and that the girls did not get taken to their appointment. 

As devastated as I was to hear the news, I was SO impressed with our agency!  That may sound strange but our amazing case manager thoroughly explained the whole situation to me.  She shared how devastated she was that they could make an error like that. I sobbed and listened and then she paused and waited. Finally she said "ok, let me have it"  I actually giggled through my tears. This amazing lady was wanting me to yell at her for something she had absolutely no control over!!!  There was no way I was going to yell at her and I told her as much. I told her if I were a perfect human being that had never made any mistakes or if I had never had anyone working for me that had made mistakes, I think I would have let her have it! :) However, neither are true so instead I told her how amazing she was and that I knew for certain none of the staff here and none of the in country staff would ever do anything like this on purpose. I sincerely believe they love our girls and I believe with all of me they want to see them home in our family almost as much as we do!!

So, we have spent the last few days trying to decide if we should postpone our trip or go ahead and go, knowing we could be in country much longer than we had planned.  I also learned that changeable tickets are way more expensive than just the fee that you pay to change each ticket. If there is a price increase, you also pay the difference. Changing our tickets would pretty much be flushing a couple thousand dollars down the toilet. So, we prayed and asked for godly counsel and we decided to go ahead and go. Would you PLEASE PRAY that God will miraculously redeem this whole situation?!?  And if He chooses not to, that He will coordinate all the other details for our kids here starting school and all of Brian's work trips. Please continue to pray for our finances, if we don't come home on the planned date, we will have to pay to change tickets AND several more nights in the hotel and food. I believe that God is going to do something very cool, and that is our prayer, that HE will be glorified!!!

 

Give 1 Save 1 Africa!!

We are so excited to share that Give 1 Save 1 is featuring us this week!  Here is the link, if you have a couple minutes, please watch the video.  If God leads you to give (even just $1) or share, please do!  To give, click on our picture or where it says "Hopkins adoption" below the video, it will take you to our Pure Charity site. From there you click Back this Fundraiser in the upper left hand corner. 

http://give1save1africa.blogspot.com/2013_08_01_archive.html

PACKING!

We can hardly believe that we leave for the Democratic Republic of Congo just one week from today!!!!  The days are ticking down to try and get our kids ready for school, which is not an easy task, especially considering that they don't have things like school supply lists for elementary school out yet!  We will do our best and my sweet Mom and Brian's sweet parents will help pick up what we've missed (we're SO thankful for them!).  I am working on gathering up everything we need to pack for us and the girls for what may be a 2 week trip, but could stretch longer. 

Which leads me to the reason for my post today.  We have a few very specific prayer requests that we would be SO grateful if you would join us in praying over. 

The first is, Monday is our girls VISA appointment (this is actually while we sleep tomorrow night)!  Our U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa usually issue VISA's on Tuesdays, but we understand that it would be a miracle for the girls to actually get their VISA's the very next day.  Which means they wouldn't get them until the next Tuesday (the 13th).  We arrive the day before (the 12th) which would mean that we wouldn't be able to start the "exit" process until Weds. the 14th.  So, please pray for a miracle, that our girls will get their VISAS issued that very next day (the 6th)!

The next prayer request is that God would perform yet another miracle and allow us ALL to return home on Aug. 26th.  I know I have asked for prayer for this before, but here it is again.  Brian HAS to be home on the 26th and if our "exit letter" is not ready, I will need to stay in the DRC with the girls and bring them home myself (unless I can recruit one of my friends to fly over and help me bring them back)  Jazzy's 8th birthday is the 27th and school starts the 28th, both things my heart aches to miss.  So, we are asking God to allow us all to be home, together, on the 26th.

Our final request is for our last chunk of travel money.  We are still around $15K short of having all the money we need for this trip.  God has done AMAZING things on this front already, and we know that He's not going to leave us hanging now.  For example, we are being featured on Give 1 Save 1 Africa Monday, so stay tuned for that.  Some amazingly talented friends, lead by Scott Chestnut, created a very powerful video for us that we could not be more excited to share.  If you aren't familiar with Give 1 Save 1, please check out their blog at: http://give1save1africa.blogspot.com/  The idea is, if we give $1, we can save 1 child.  I think so often people think that what they have to give isn't enough to make a real difference, but the point these awesome ladies who run the blog are making is, if you have $1 and you pass along these family's stories and more people give $1, it adds up very quickly and everyone gets to be a part of caring for orphans!  We are super excited they were willing to share our story right before we leave!!

Of course, "thank-you" from the depths of our hearts to all of you who have been part of supporting us financially and/or praying for our family up to this point!  Thank you SO much and way to go for being a part of caring for orphans!

WE BELIEVE WE CAN ALL DO SOMETHING!

What we do will look different for every one of us…but each of us can and should do something.

For us, it is to bring home four more little girls.  We realize this is small in relation to the world and all the thousands of orphans in it–but it will be big for us, for our family, and for their future. It will not be easy…and the world may look at us like we are crazy…again. :)

We do not believe everyone's calling is to adopt but that God does have a part for all of us to play in caring for orphans and widows.  Your calling will most likely not be easy, either... ours, sometimes, seems overwhelming . But Mother Teresa said it best when she spoke about giving–that we must give until it hurts…

...all parents know how much it hurts to be apart from our kids.  I have spent the last eight months (since we found out about our girls) thinking about the girls day and night.  Wondering if they are healthy and what they might be doing.  Wondering if someone has held them and loved them that day.  This month, I have been praising Jesus that in just a few short days, when our girls cry out at night–they will  have a mama and a papa rushing in to hold them…to sing to them…to remind them that they are safe.  They are home.

When they are home, we will have a new form of "giving until it hurts".  That in my opinion is the most beautiful part of the entire journey.  Katie Davis wrote this on her blog this week and it is beautiful and so true!

"Watching them grow in their knowledge and love of the Lord is by far the best part of parenting. Without a doubt, parenting reveals to me more of my own depravity and more of my loving Father’s heart than anything else ever could. I am humbled and grateful."

We too are humbled and grateful that God would allow us to witness His work in healing and redeeming these little hearts.  It is truly a miracle!

Thank you in advance for your prayers.  Of course, we will keep you posted on how all of this unfolds and how God answers our prayers as we lift them to Him together.

We love you all.