Depraved Indifference

Here is a new video by Ellerslie Mission Society and Eric Ludy.  What a great message for all of us to hear.

Orphan Sunday

This Sunday, November 7th is Orphan Sunday. As you watch the

video below, pray about how God has called you to be involved!

Thanks Jason Cole for posting video on your blog!!
You can follow Jason and his family at  Cole Family Blog

Photos of the last days of paperwork

 A proud mama

Dossier about to enter FedEx box

Dossier in triplicate

Lots of organizing

More organizing

That's a lot of paper

Lee's "baby bump" 

Yep, we are "paper pregnant'

Our girls and our I-171H

...And now the waiting begins

Our dossier has made it's great trek around the world to Ethiopia.  And now the waiting begins.  At this moment, our timeline looks like it will be 4-6 months of waiting for a referral.  Once we are matched, Shepherd will be moved to a transition home where he will wait for 4-6 weeks for us to be appointed a court date.  We will travel to Ethiopia for court where we will meet him for the first time, get to spend time with him, and proclaim to the judge that we want him.  Then comes the hard part.  We will have to leave him at the transition home while we wait for the US Embassy to do their investigation and issue his visa.  Once we have clearance from the Embassy, we will return to Ethiopia to bring Shepherd home.  We are looking at approximately 6-9 months of waiting for Shepherd.  Please continue to pray for us and our girls as we wait.  Lift up Shepherd in your prayers that God will provide for him and protect him.

Date/Time

Activity

Location

Oct 21, 2010 10:14 AM

Delivered

KIRKOS SUB-CITY, ADDIS ABABA ET

Oct 20, 2010 6:58 PM

At local FedEx facility

DUBAI AE

Oct 20, 2010 4:38 AM

Departed FedEx location

PARIS FR

Oct 20, 2010 3:20 AM

In transit

PARIS FR

Oct 20, 2010 12:58 AM

Departed FedEx location

PARIS FR

Oct 20, 2010 12:39 AM

Arrived at FedEx location

PARIS FR

Oct 19, 2010 7:40 PM

At local FedEx facility

PARIS FR

Oct 19, 2010 4:39 PM

Arrived at FedEx location

PARIS FR

Oct 19, 2010 4:15 AM

Departed FedEx location

NEWARK, NJ

Oct 18, 2010 3:39 AM

In transit

NEWARK, NJ

Oct 16, 2010 9:37 AM

Departed FedEx location

NEWARK, NJ

Oct 16, 2010 7:55 AM

Arrived at FedEx location

NEWARK, NJ

Oct 15, 2010 8:27 PM

Left FedEx origin facility

HERNDON, VA

Oct 15, 2010 3:50 PM

Picked up

HERNDON, VA

Our Next Big Fundraiser!!

Africa Heart Pendants

In an all out effort to bring Shepherd home, we have created super cute glass tile pendants.  They are 7/8 inch glass tiles with a satin and cord necklace.  Currently we have fleur de lis, candy shoppe, spring time bugs, and peace signs.  We will have LSU pendants as well by week's end.  We will be adding pictures of pendants as we create them.  We can also customize them with just about any design you would like, as long as it can be shrunk down to fit.  Also, for the other adoption families out there, we are working on Africa tiles for those that are interested.  All pendants are $9.00 and they include shipping.  If you have any questions, please email Monica at monrusl@aol.com.

Fleur De Lis Glass Tiles

Candy Shoppe Glass Tiles

DTE - 10/15/10

It's official!! Our dossier is on its way to Addis Ababa.  We received our email today with tracking number so we can follow along as it crosses the pond.  It has been a great day in the Russell household.

Our First Fundraiser!!!

Madison, Chloe, and Dena selling drinks and cookies

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!    Ephesians 3:20-21

When Lee and I were brainstorming about fundraising ideas for our adoption, the first thing that came to mind was to have a yard sale.  Now, I am not going to lie: I HATE doing yard sales!! They are so much work, and in 100 degree Louisiana summer heat, it did not sound like one bit of fun.  But, we spread the word on Facebook and at church that we would be accepting donations starting in June for our yard sale on July 17.....well, I learned pretty quickly not to ask small town friends for something unless you really want it! We got a TON of donations, so many that my garage was completely full in about 3 weeks.  My super sweet Grandma and Aunt came almost daily to help me price items, because they are yard sale experts.  However, even they were boggled by some of the items....what on earth do you ask for an air hockey table?? or a train table?? or a little boy's athletic cup?? (uh, the answer to that one is: pick it up using a stick and promptly toss both in the garbage!) It was an overwhelming amount of stuff, but we finally managed to get it all priced. The sale was to take place at my mom's house, which is right next to a small bridge.  A couple of weeks before the sale, we get the unexpected surprise that the bridge was under construction and would be closed the date of our yard sale.  We were sure that this would hurt our profits, but decided to stick with our original date.  Then, the night before the sale it rained, resulting in most of the signs Lee had put out being blown away...more discouragement, but too late to back out. 

The day of the yard sale started at 4:45 am, with lots of friends and family sacrificing their Saturday sleep to help us get things out on tables.  We had borrowed 11 long tables from our church, and even that wasn't enough to put everything out! The weather was extremely hot, but from 6:30 am until 1:30 pm we had a steady flow of customers.  God truly blessed all our hard work!

We were planning to use the yard sale profits for our home study the next weekend.  The cost of the home study was $1,400.  That's what we were praying for, hoping we would at least raise $1,000.  About 3 or 4 days before the sale, Lee felt the Holy Spirit impress upon him to pray for $2,000.  So, Lee prayed for $2,000.  Well, at the end of the day we quickly counted up the bills and estimated the coins and it looked like we had made about $1,200.  For a yard sale in 100 degree heat, that's pretty huge! Even though we didn't make the total amount needed for the home study, I was so grateful for what we did bring in.  Well, it turns out, we had miscounted...the actual amount we had made was, go ahead and guess, $1,400!! Wow! God always provides what we need, just when we need it.  We had exactly what we needed for the home study, so we were thrilled! Anyway, I was driving home (completely exhausted and soaking wet because we also got rained on while we were picking up) thinking about Lee's prayer for $2,000.  We didn't get that much, but it was alright because we had enough to cover the home study.  I pulled in the driveway and got the mail from the mailbox...nothing but bills, as usual.  One was from our insurance company, and looked a little different than our monthly bill does, so I opened it first.  Inside was a check for $888-a refund from over paying on our previous house!! My eyes filled up with tears.  I am completely humbled and amazed that we serve a God who not only blessed us with exactly what we needed, but more than we were even willing to ask for!

Deciding to follow God in this adoption and do what we know He is asking of us has not been easy.  Feelings have been expressed and questions have been raised that have truly hurt our hearts.  We believe that the amount of money raised is further confirmation that what we are doing is right.  God never calls us to a task which He doesn't equip us for.  This is a God-sized task, something Lee and I know we can't do on our own, but God continues to remind us that He has it all under control!.....we even had so much stuff left over that we are doing another sale in September.

Billy and Lee making a big sale

We had soooo much stuff!