A Double Portion

It's been two months since I saw our sweet Lulah's face. Two months since God blew our socks off and answered my fervent prayer of "Please Lord, just let us see our daughter's face."  And boom- there she was.  If you are just joining our blog, you can get caught up here with how we found our daughter. I have so loved to tell others about Lulah's story, and now, God has given us a lot more of the strory to tell.

To get to the rest of the story, I first need to go back to the story I told in my last post about that morning that I felt God put Uganda heavy on my heart and in my head.  The part I left out because I wasn't quite ready to share was this: the night before that happened, I had a dream.  Although I wish I were different about this, I rarely remember my dreams.  I sometimes start to faintly remember a dream I had, but then usually everything gets fuzzy and I can't really remember any details.  Well, this time was similar, except that there was one distinct detail that I remembered as soon as I woke up.  And it kept playing in my head over and over that day.  I can still picture it in the corner of my mind's eye.  It was a big number 2.  It was black, like a house number.  At that point in our journey, this wasn't really that shocking to me.  I had begun to feel strongly that maybe we were supposed to be adopting more than one for several months.  Jonathan had been coming around to the idea too.  Just a couple of weeks before I had this dream, in the week leading up to our benefit concert, I prayed a lot that week for God to make it clear to us if He wanted us to get more than one.  I was feeling more and more like He did, but the only catch was that according to the adoption laws in Madagascar, they would not let us adopt more than one child since we already had three children living in the home.  This was something we hadn't realized until we were well under way with the process, because when we first started we were definitely not thinking about adopting two children.  He provided abundantly at Pickin' & Pies, and at that point we were pretty much fully funded for what we needed to adopt one child from Madagascar.  I wasn't fully convinced that this was an answer on my question of two, but with a couple more fundraisers that were already in the works, it seemed to me that He was telling us, "Do not worry about a thing.  I've got this totally covered." Then what we thought we knew about the Mada program started to fall apart, and in comes (after looking back on it now) some clear answers from God.  A dream with a big black "2" and then "Uganda" playing over and over in my head the next morning while I was praying for God to give us guidance.  I wasn't sure how He would work it all out, but I trusted that He would.  We just had to be open to whatever His plan was.

Fast forward to March.  About a week after we found Lulah and started switching everything over to Uganda, our new agency emailed me to let us know that there were some other kids at Lulah's orphanage that were available and to let them know if we were interested in getting more information about any of them.  I opened up all of their pictures and info; there were five little boys and one little girl.  When I saw her, I just had that feeling.  The feeling I had read about people having, but had not experienced myself. With Lulah, it happened differently, because her name is what made me know it was her first.  But this girl. Her name was Jovia, and her precious face just looked like she embodied joy.  I immediately looked up the meaning of her name and it means "happy" or "joy".  Of course it does.  I emailed our agency back and asked about her, but the reply I got back made me think that she had already taken by another family.  I emailed back again and said to please keep me updated.  Then later I got another email from the agency asking if we would please consider Jovia, since she was at the same orphanage and of similar age to Lulah. (we have since learned that Lulah is four and Jovia is five) Later that day, I showed Jonathan all the pictures and info of the kids that the agency had sent me.  The boys caught a glimpse of Jovia's picture on the computer and started yelling "Yes!!  We want her!!  We want two sisters!!!" All three of them were jumping up and down and getting so excited about the possibility of TWO sisters.  Jonathan needed some time to process it all, so we agreed to pray about it and see if God would confirm the same child for both of us.  In the next week we both prayed fervently- that God would make it clear to us which child He wanted us to bring home with Lulah. During that time, two of my closest friends, both very Holy Spirit-centered, told me without a doubt that they felt like Jovia was the one- and they had some hair-standing on your arm kind of stories of why they felt this way.  A week went by and I felt more and more confirmed that Jovia was the one. After a couple of days of trying to ask Jonathan how he was feeling about it all, I decided I needed to shut up about the whole thing.  This is not something that I wanted to convince him of.  God needed to help him come to a conclusion about it all on his own.  One of those same close friends suggested that I change my prayer and to start praying for God to soften Jonathan's heart.  Within two days I saw this happen and he started bringing her up to me and asking me questions and what I was thinking. Towards the end of the week we had a conversation with our agency, and we got more information on each of the girls.  The next day, we were in a cute little coffee shop that had a gift shop in it. Literally everywhere we turned, there was something that said JOY or HAPPY on it.  Later that day I discovered on my phone (I think I saw something on ig) that it was International Day of Happy. Seriously.  I don't make this stuff up. When we got home, Jonathan sat in the living room by himself with his computer and pulled up all the kids pictures again.  After a few minutes, he called me in the room and said, "Okay. It's her."  I squealed and thanked the Lord.

Lulah and Jovia.  Our two daughters that God has been weaving into the threads of our hearts for so long.  Oh, how He is faithful and so full of grace.

"Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, 

 and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance.

And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,

and everlasting JOY will be yours." Isaiah 61:7

So what now?  Paperwork, and lots of it.  Since finding Lulah, we have basically had to start everything over.  I actually can't think of one single piece of paper that we have been able to reuse for this new process for Uganda.  We are so thankful to have found a wonderful and quick case worker to do a new home study for us, and we received our new completed last week.  While waiting for that, I have been focused on gathering documents that we will need for our dossier to send to Uganda.  If Madagascar's dossier requirements seemed hard, Uganda's seem haaaaaaarrrrrrrd.  Four copies of everything, certified or notarized.  Bank statements, house deed, medical reports, employment letters, references, college diplomas, high school diplomas (I'm pretty sure if we have a college diploma, then that means we would have graduated high school?!!?), birth certificates, marriage certificates, fingerprinting... (oh there's lots more).  I'm pretty sure they could just say, "Every single piece of paper that you've ever touched in your entire life." and be done with it.  But, I am making progress.  I sent off our I-600a application to get approval from the USCIS yesterday (although I forgot to enclose a check. oops. I'm literally losing my mind) and once we get that back (hopefully in a few weeks) we can send off our dossier. After our dossier gets to Uganda, we have been told that we should travel soon for our first trip. We will meet the girls and apply for court, then travel back for our second trip whenever our court date is.  The way things are going, I am hopeful that we would be going on our first trip by the end of the summer.  We really have no idea, though.  After what we've already been through, we know not to expect anything quickly.  What we do know is that God is working it all out. And that's all that matters.

Mother's Day is tomorrow and I know it will feel different this year.  Besides relishing in the sweet hugs and kisses that my three precious sons will undoubtably give me, I will be looking at the pictures of my beautiful daughters and praying that the day will come quickly that I can be hugging and kissing on them.  I will be joyful and oh so thankful that God has entrusted me to mother these five little ones that are only mine because He is gracious.  But, in the midst of the joy I will also grieve for the mothers that my daughters have lost.  I will grieve that they are sitting in an orphanage, with no family- no mother to hug and kiss, no mother to make a handmade card for, no mother to give flowers to, no mother to call their own.  They need a mom.  They need love, and hope, and joy, and Jesus. Soon, sweet girls. Soon.

       //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Fear not, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east,

and from the west I will gather you.

I will say to the north, Give up,

and to the south, Do not withhold;

bring my sons from afar

and My daughters from the end of the earth,

everyone who is called by My name,

whom I created for My glory,

whom I formed and made.

       ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Thanks for sticking with us through this journey.  We are so incredibly appreciative of those who continually pray for us and our girls and want us to keep you updated on what's going on.  Later this week I'll give a fundraising status and be sharing about our upcoming feature week on the Give1Save1 blog- which starts Monday, May 19th!  We will have lots of opportunities that week to help, including lots of crosses and map scripture prints for sale here on the blog.  Stayed tuned!

xoxo,
shawna

God is in the business of being Awesome

So, we've got some news to share.  News that I've been dreaming of sharing for 18 months when we started this long journey.  News that I know many people have been waiting and waiting to hear.  (and waiting and waiting--I know.)   Now, it's time to spill a lot of stuff. The good, the bad and the awesome.  Did you know that God is in the business of being Awesome?  Of writing stories that only He could pen?  Of working out details that only He could know about?  Of giving answers that only He would even know of the question asked to get that answer?  Yeah, He's good like that.

First, you have to start with this post if you haven't already read it.  (g i v i n g   y o u   s o m e   t i m e   t o   r e a d   i t)   Now, let's go back to November.  The week after Pickin' & Pies, we found out some pretty discouraging stuff that led us to believe that the Madagascar program may not be the best program for us to continue with.  Without sharing too many details, it started looking as if adopting from Mada may not happen anytime soon, if ever.  We were pretty distraught and very unsure of what to do next.  We prayed a lot in that week (and ever since then) asking God to give us guidance, wisdom, discernment, and more trust.  One particular morning I had texted a friend to tell her what was going on and asked her to please pray specifically for guidance.  I sat down to eat breakfast and started to pray, asking God to just speak to me and let us know what He wanted us to do.  As I prayed, the word Uganda kept playing over and over in my head.  I can't really recall that this had ever happened to me before, so I wasn't really sure what to make of it except that I knew I couldn't get it out of my head the rest of the day.  Later I saw the same friend I had texted that morning and told her that I couldn't stop thinking about Uganda.  She asked me when that had started.  I told her it had been all day, but specifically had started at 8:15 when I was praying at breakfast.  She looked at me straight in the eye and said, "Shawna, I was on my knees praying for God to speak to you at that exact same time.  He's telling you Uganda."  When you aren't used to things like this happening, you aren't really sure how to take that.  But this friend in particular, through a crazy Africa story of her own, has taught me a lot about listening to God and those words that keep playing over and over in your head or have been put on your heart.  I shared about my breakfast experience with two other friends that day.  One (who has adopted from Uganda) said, "Looks like you're going to Uganda, sister!" and the other texted back, "He is speaking to you.  Keep listening."  I began to feel that this was a very clear answer He had given me.  So, over the next couple of weeks I started calling several agencies and inquiring about their Uganda programs.  All but one (who seemed very shady) told me that they were not recommending any families join that program.  It was just too unstable, wait times were getting really long and they didn't even know if it would be open in six months.  They were happy to tell me about some of their other programs in Africa, but discouraged any ideas I had of switching over to Uganda.  I started to think that maybe He hadn't been speaking Uganda to me or that it maybe didn't mean what I thought it had meant.  I know He is the God of making the impossible things possible, but I just kind of put those thoughts in a back corner of my mind.

The holidays came and I put off calling agencies for a while.  We were still holding on with Madagascar, but began working on writing a grievance letter to our agency with four other families in our program.  We felt like they had been negligent in a lot of areas and had not been forthright with some information that would have probably made us choose another program from the start.  We finally sent the letter at the end of January.  We waited three weeks for a reply from them and the reply we got was pretty much a whole lot of nothing. No answers to our questions and concerns.  No reason to gain back the trust that we had lost in them.  Three of the five families pulled out of the program at that time and the only reason we decided to still hold on was because the director of our program was actually traveling to Madagascar at the end of February.  We felt like we had invested too much time and money to pull out before we learned of what would come out of that trip.  I didn't want to wait any more, but it did seem to make sense to wait two more weeks after coming that far.  I wasn't expecting much, but we were hopeful that he might come back and say that they were about to start referring kids left and right.  We just didn't know.

That brings us up to last week.  There is a website called Rainbow Kids that has a composite list of waiting children all over the world.  "Waiting children" are kids who are considered harder to place with an adoptive family because they are older or because of some special need they have.  Several agencies have waiting children that are available at the orphanages they work with and they put up a picture with some general information about the child on this site.  They give you their approximate age, if they are considered healthy or not and what continent they are on.  I have looked at this sight just about every day for the last four months.  I have shown some of the children to Jonathan that I thought were cute and he has just smiled and said, "Yeah, they are cute." But ultimately (just like with the name) he couldn't "go there" until we knew for sure what was going to happen in Madagascar.  I understood, but I still looked anyway.  So last week we were in Oregon for my nephew's wedding.  Jonathan and the boys had left on Monday while I stayed with a dear friend for the rest of the week.  I realized it had been a few days since I had last looked on Rainbow Kids, so that night I decided to open up the site and see if any new children had been put up. There had been. One of them was a little girl.  And her name was...

Lullah.

Are.  you.  kidding.  me.   {just got chills all over again}  I kept staring at the name, at HER, making sure I was seeing this right.  Her name was Lullah!!!  Yes, yes, I could see that it wasn't the exact spelling that we have used, but COME ON PEOPLE!!!!!!!!  That is not exactly a common name, here or in Africa.  I don't care how it's spelled.  Her name was Lullah.  That was enough for me.  *And just a note about her name (if you didn't take the time to go back and read this post!)- I truly believe that God gave me that name.  It wasn't like we each had a long list of names that we liked and we narrowed it down to something that we both could live with.  That was the only name we could come up with and I had no idea where it had even come from.  It was just the name that had been put on my heart.*  I texted Jonathan in the middle of the night Nashville time and told him to look at Rainbow Kids when he had a chance.  I wasn't able to talk to him until late Tuesday and he hadn't had time to look.  He said, (kind of sarcastically) "What- is there a child on there that you want to bring home?"  I said, "Yeah.  There is one girl.  Her name is Lullah."  His response was almost a whisper- "What?"  I was thinking I was going to have to do a little convincing, but I didn't.  The name was enough for both of us to inquire about her and just see what happened.  I had already sent an email to inquire about her of course, but it wasn't until Thursday that I actually talked to someone at the agency that was representing her.  The girl told me that yes, she indeed was available, what the process would be like and what the next steps were should we chose to move forward.  We had been talking for a while when I finally asked, "Can you tell me where she is?" to which she quickly replied, "Oh yeah! She's in Uganda!  Did I not already say that?"  No, no you didn't.  I would have remembered that.  I was shaking uncontrollably at that point and my heart was beating something crazy.  Those three days that I had been waiting to talk to the agency about her, I kept feeling like Gideon.  Part of me was like, "Her name is Lullah.  The end." and another part of me was freaked out and like, "Well, I don't know...It does seem like it might be something..." I kept telling God (and my friend Kimmee that I was staying with) that it wasn't like I needed more confirmation, but if she happened to be in Uganda then  OH MY WORD.  And she was.  She is.  She's five years old and she is beautiful.  She has been put on hold for us and we are working to get her home.  She will hopefully be ours-- soon.

Yesterday we officially withdrew from the Madagascar program and from our agency.  We did get the report of the director's trip to Madagascar last week.  It was just more confirmation that we need to be doing something else.  So, we are.  And we are okay with that.  From the beginning of this journey we have always known that switching countries was a possibility.  We've just heard of it way too often.  So we tried to never get attached to Madagascar itself, just to the fact that we were adopting.  Of course the longer we were in the program, the more we began to love the country and get excited about bringing a child home from there, but I think after this many months of there being a strong possibility that we were going to switch that we had already grieved the change.  Now, once it has happened, we are fully at peace with it and ready to move on.  We are working on getting our home study updated and a new dossier put together.  Once we do that, we should be traveling *somewhat* quickly for our first trip to meet our girl.  Please pray that this new paperwork phase (ugh) will go super fast.

I still can't believe what I've just written.  My, how things can change in a week.  God has shown us where our daughter is and we couldn't be more grateful to Him for the way that He has revealed His steadfast love for our family.

(from December 2nd post)
We're not sure exactly what road we will be taking in the next few weeks, but we know that He will lead us down the right one because He already knows where we are headed, and I have a feeling that He's got something very special planned. 

Love for Lulah: the movie

We have a lot of talented friends.  Two of them are Gabe and Mandy McCauley.  Mandy, aka Mix Master Mandy, is a rocking guitar artist.  Gabe, aka lilDragon, is a rocking video artist.  Together they are a power couple of creativity and inspiration, aka Gandy.  We love Gandy.  Gandy brought the house down at Pickin' and Pies closing out the show with songs and video magic.  This blog post is about the video magic.  

About a year ago Shawna found this blog, Give1Save1, that features an adopting family's story every week.  Here is how they explain it, "Every Monday we are going to ask you for a dollar. We’re going to tell you who it’s going to and what it’s being used for. We’re mostly funding adoption for the people, by the people. The premise is for lots of people to give a little and let it all add up!....And your dollar will be saving and restoring lives in all kinds of ways. Removing a child from an orphanage gives that child a family and a future, something everyone needs. It also frees up a bed in an orphanage for another child."  Give one dollar, save one child.  A little bit of money, a big difference.  

This has been our approach to fundraising.  Share our story and hope that a lot of people would give a little. God had something else in mind.  A lot of people are giving a lot.  Over and over again they (you) give. Whatever we thought people might give God said, "Just wait.  I am going to take your small little dream and explode it."  They bought tickets to a basketball game, tickets to a concert, stuff at a garage sale, handmade crosses, t-shirts.  They just wrote a check or handed us cash.  Strangers sent us money in the mail with a note like, "I heard about your story and was touched by it."  And the gifts haven't been limited to money.  Several people have generously given their time and God-given talents, which brings us to lilDragon, Give1Save1 and the video magic.  

After finding the blog, we decided we wanted to share our adoption story through a video.  Maybe people far beyond our circles would be touched by what God is doing.  The problem is that we stink at making videos.  lilDragon doesn't (check out their 2013 Hype Reel ). Shawna made a phone call and a few minutes later we had a video in the works.  I don't think they really knew what they were getting into.  It took seven months and several takes to get something they could work with, because we are bad on camera.  Really bad.  We both freeze when we see the red light.  Somehow they took our mess and made it into a masterpiece.  I don't know how they did it, but they captured our story and turned it into something beautiful.  We can't say thank you enough to Nick Nichols, Gabe McCauley and Dave Boyd for logging countless hours filming and editing. 

We don't have any fundraising events planned for 2014, but we do have this video.  Here is some good news- the people at Give1Save1 liked our video and we have been chosen to be featured on their blog. The bad news is that this may not happen for six months (or even longer).  When you have been given something like this it is hard not to go ahead and share, so we're going ahead and sharing.  We think the New Year is the perfect time to do that.  Here is what you can do: 1. Watch the video  2. Share the video with lots of people  3. Pray that God will bring a little girl across the world home soon.  More than anything we want to bring God all glory and praise for how His hand is working in our lives and in the life of one orphan.  Praise to the One who gave One to save everyone.  

So here it is.  Be sure to watch in full screen mode.

You can share it with either of these links:  http://vimeo.com/83075957
or: http://youtu.be/FHU7Ru_JKFs

"Called Me Higher" song by All Sons and Daughters.

jonathan & shawna

The things I will remember

November was definitely a month to remember.  There have been some awesome highs and some discouraging lows, but what I want to remember out of November are all the mighty works of the Lord.

First of all, I turned 40 on the 5th and my sweet husband threw me a surprise party!   Although I had been a little suspicious that he was up to some kind of planning, he got me good when it actually came party time.  With the help of some family and friends, it was a lovely night and I'm so thankful that I got to spend it with so many people that mean so much to me.  The Lord has blessed me far greater than I deserve in my 40 years on this earth, and I am so thankful to Him for every good gift that He has given me.  My prayer for my birthday was that this will be the last birthday I spend without Tallulah home with our family!  

{me, Jonathan and my sweet parents who drove up for my birthday and then drove back the 

next weekend for Pickin' & Pies!}

 {some dear friends wrote a song for me (and about me) and sang it at the party.  most of it was nice. :) }

A week after my birthday party was our benefit concert, Pickin' & Pies, and what a high that was!  It really was an incredible, God-glorifying day.  I can't even put into words how much it meant to us that so many people were there and shared in such a special day with us.  We had a crew of friends that were there helping set up starting at 8:30 am and didn't leave until 6 pm.  Several hours were put into it before the day even arrived- not just by us, but by several of our friends.  Anyone that was involved with the event went above and beyond what we asked of them, and we can not thank them enough for what they did for us.  For what they did for our daughter that they've never even met.  So much love was poured into that event and into our family- not just by our friends who were there helping, but also by the people who came to support us.  People drove from near and far, some as far as 4 hours away.  They came and they gave generously.  They brought pies.  They bought t-shirts and our handmade crosses. They pooled their money for auction items.   They ate, they visited, they played, they listened and they watched (we watched) as God made a small fleeting thought about a concert to help bring Lulah home into something bigger than we ever thought it could be.  But no surprise there.  He's really good at doing that.   Through so many generous, loving people, we raised around $5,000 that day. Praise the Lord for He is good!!!!!  

There are so many ways that we saw Him at work in the details over the last several months.  I don't have room or time to tell them all, but I will remember them all.  I'll remember Farmer Paul telling me about why he said yes to us having the event on his beautiful farm when he didn't know us at all and had never let anyone do that before: "Well, I don't know.  It just seemed like the right thing to do." I'll remember how DJ at Just Love Coffee Roasters responded to my email asking him if they would be willing to donate coffee for the event: "We don't normally do this, but I read your story and I'd like to see what I can do for you."  I'll remember the man who owned the Cane Ery Antiques on 8th Avenue, when I went to his shop to buy a few pieces of vintage hardware and decorative wood pieces for the 50+ crosses we were working on.  I told him that my husband and I make and sell the crosses to raise money for our adoption and he told me to pick whatever I wanted from two huge boxes full of stuff that hadn't been put out yet.  Then he gave it all to me.  Over $300 worth.  I'll remember Lindell, the lady that I met at Chick-Fil-A a few days before the concert- a day when I was pretty anxious about some details that were not really coming together out at the farm- that spoke scripture over me and spoke exactly what I had asked God for in prayer just an hour before I met her.   I'll remember Ray, the precious 90 year old man at church who couldn't make it to the concert, but spent his Thursday making six delicious pies to send with us.  I'll remember Chris and Steph, who I don't think had any idea who I was when I emailed them about playing at the concert, but without hesitation said, "Adoption is near and dear to our hearts...we would love to be a part of it...we're here to serve."  I'll remember how I had prayed for the Lord to provide us with a photographer that would be willing to just be there that day and document the event for us (at no charge), and instead of providing one, He provided two- sweet Dolly and Lindsay- who again, even though they had never met us, were so happy and excited to be there and serve in whatever way we wanted them to.   I'll remember what someone wrote me after the concert when I had thanked him for his gracious help: 
"...it was one of those things that was just a huge blessing to me to be a part of. There were so many people there that I love. It was just awesome to be able to be with those people, all joined around your family and your sweet girl. Also, since the event, I've found myself so much more mindful of the Lord around me. Through your journey, there are no telling how many people who are understanding more fully the beauty of adoption and it's parallel to us as orphans. We're praying daily for God's blessings on your family and on your daughter." 

I could go on, but you get the picture.  These are the things I constantly pray that others who are following our story will remember, so that He will be glorified. These things are not about us, but they are about Him.  In no way should they lift us up, but they should in every way lift Him up, because this is who He is.   These are the things I will remember.

But then I will remember all you have done, O Lord;
    I remember Your wonderful deeds of long ago.
12 They are constantly in my thoughts.
    I cannot stop thinking about Your mighty works. 
{Psalm 77:11-12}

{For more gorgeous photos from the day, click on this link.}

Two days after the concert, we were hit with a low.  The enemy started messing with us and made it clear how much he doesn't want this adoption to happen.  We were reminded that this is a battle that we are fighting against one who doesn't want the lonely to be set in families- against a whole army of darkness.

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
{Ephesians 6:12}

But we will not lose hope.  We know God has already won the victory.  After that low came, a wise friend gave me much needed encouragement that I believe came straight from God, reminding me to TRUST.  She said, "The concert was a mountain-top moment for you all as you draw closer to the reality of welcoming another child into your home with loving arms.  With that, I want you to understand that moments like that set up conditions for the perfect storm.  TRUST that when you asked Jesus into your boat, storms would come and come quickly.  Our peace in that storm comes from our faith that we TRUST that He desires what is best for you even more than you do."  I know He does, but it was nice to have the reminder.  Although I can't go into all the details of this particular low we are facing right now, we ask for your prayers during this time of uncertainty.  We're not sure exactly what road we will be taking in the next few weeks, but we know that He will lead us down the right one because He already knows where we are headed, and I have a feeling that He's got something very special planned.  Please pray for our peace in His leading. Pray for greater trust. Pray for our willingness to be led into even greater depths with Him, even when we cannot see.  

Once again, He encouraged me with scripture just when I needed it most- this time coming through a friend of a friend.  That scripture also comes from Psalm 77:

Your road led through the sea,

   Your pathway through the mighty waters-

  a pathway no one knew was there! 
 {Psalm 77:19}

He will make a way when it seems there is no way.  He will make a pathway through the waters to our sweet Tallulah.   

Even through the hard days, November reminded us of how much we have to be thankful for.  Thank you so much to those who have continually lifted our names up before the Father.  You are a blessing to our family.  We ask that you boldly continue to do so, and if you aren't already, we would especially love for you to join us Sunday nights at 9pm CST.  

xoxo

Concert update and auction item

Pickin' & Pies is less than two weeks away!  Aaaahhhh!!!!!  We have been super busy making final preparations and every day more and more things are falling into place that I can only attribute to God working out every detail for us.  I went out to Roaring Creek Farm last week and took Jonathan and the boys with me for the first time.  It was a gorgeous fall day, and I was just imagining how beautiful everything will be out there in the next two weeks as the leaves start changing.  

We are so SO excited!  (I know I keep saying that, but we just are!)  Remember to bring a pie (or two) and some blankets, chairs, whatever you want to make yourself comfortable for the afternoon.  In addition to the music, Joseph Kirkpatrick will be doing a live auction of a few items as well as some entertainment that I'm sure will not disappoint.  :)  Annnnd... we have two sweet, talented photographers that have generously donated their time who will be documenting the day for us as well as taking some family photos on the farm with your choice of some vintage props!  At the end of the concert, we will hopefully be showing a very special short film that some great and talented friends have been working on for us.  So we hope you will come prepared to stay for a whole afternoon of fun and fellowship!  We will have t-shirts for sale- our adoption shirts and some limited edition Pickin' & Pies shirts- and Jonathan has been spending many many precious weekend hours building crosses that we will have there to sell.  They are beautiful.  

In addition to what's going on at the concert, we have some seriously exciting auction items that have been donated to help bring Lulah home. Our dear friend, Hall of Fame Songwriter and Producer Roger Murrah, has generously donated the following items that we are offering as an online auction:

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Hall of Fame Songwriter Roger Murrah
To Offer Services At Auction

Nashville, TN For songwriters wanting to become more professional, this may be an opportunity for you. Hall of Fame songwriter, Roger Murrah, will be offering-at-auction 3 Two-Hour Consulting Sessions (with the bid starting at $250 per session), as well as 2 Six-Hour Co-Writing Sessions (with the bid starting at $2,500 per session). All proceeds will be going to benefit the Jonathan and Shawna Sheahen family, for expenses incurred in the adoption of thier new little daughter, Tallulah, who will be coming home soon to Nashville from Madagascar. For complete information, please call Shawna at 615-513-4168.

About Roger Murrah: http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/l-o/roger-murrah.aspx
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Roger with Al Jarreau

This man is a precious and gifted man, and we are so grateful to him for such an incredible donation. But, we need your help to get the word out to the right people that will be interested in this.  I figure that everybody knows somebody that is trying to get in the music business or already is but would greatly benefit from either the consulting session or songwriting session. Just look up Roger's bio and see all the amazing things he has done and awards he's received!  He wrote Don't Rock the Jukebox and High Cotton, for cryin' out loud!  Please share this on your blog, facebook page, copy it and email it to people you know, tweet about it, whatever. This doesn't just apply to Nashville people!  

We would so much appreciate your help in letting people know about it. Bids can be placed either by commenting on this post on our facebook page, sending me an email or calling me.  The auction will be open until November 13th. Let me know if you have questions or need more information.

Thank you for your help.  Every day, every act of kindness, every donation made, every prayer lifted up, brings us one day closer to bringing one orphan home.  To God be the glory.

Pickin' & Pies! A Benefit Concert for Lulah

I am so so SO excited to share with y'all about this concert right here.  Did I say SO EXCITED??  This has been in the works for a loooong time and it. is. finally. happening.  A friend had suggested about a year ago that this would be really cool to do (which I agreed) and especially here in Nashville where we know so many incredibly gifted musicians that are more than willing to share their talents.   So, after a long time of thinking and praying about it, waiting for certain things to happen, gathering the right people, it's time.  

{Thank you to Amanda Speer for designing this lovely poster for us!}

I can't even tell you how much we have already seen God at work in this.  For starters, He has totally blessed us with a beautiful venue.  When planning first began, we really had no idea where we were going to have this concert.  Several ideas were thrown around, but the one thing I kept coming back to was that I wanted it outside, ideally on a farm, in my favorite little Tennessee town of Leiper's Fork.  Okay, I know that's getting pretty picky, but that's just the picture I had in my head.  I'm a dreamer.  Work with it.  Well, we know lots of people who know lots of people that have farms all over middle Tennessee.  I asked these people who asked their people, but nothing was working out it seemed.  Then about a month ago, after weeks of looking and coming up with nothing, I started emailing people.  Random people, that is.  Meaning- people that I don't know.  This is kinda how I work.  I just start asking, thinking it doesn't hurt to ask.  (if you don't know our wedding story, ask me sometime)  And, it just so happens that one of these random people said "Yes" and made me one happy girl.  Meet Paul, aka "Farmer Joe" of Joe Natural's Cafe in Historic Leiper's Fork. 
                                  

giving us the tour

I had met Paul a couple of years ago at his adorable little locavore cafe in Leiper's Fork.   He has a farm where he grows much of what they use at the cafe and sources locally anything else that he doesn't grow.  He hosts a farm to table dinner every month that I know about only because I am on their email list.  So I knew that they hosted some events on the farm, although I had no idea if they ever did anything else there besides the monthly dinner, and if they were even willing to let anyone that they didn't know host something there.  I knew this was a long shot, but, like I said before, it doesn't hurt to ask.  We have had a couple of brief conversations before but I knew he wouldn't remember me, so I emailed him and told him who I was and what we were doing, and that I was just wondering if they ever hosted any outside events at the farm.  Within a few minutes he emailed me back and said, "Let me see what we can do."  I read it and started crying.   It honestly blew me away that he was even considering it.  But why should it have blown me away?  Earlier that very week, after hitting dead ends everywhere, I started praying hard that God would work this detail out.  That He would lead us to a great venue; just any venue at that point.  Could this be it?  I replied back to thank him and let him know that we could work with just about anything and started praying more.  In two days He answered that prayer when I got this second email from Paul:

I'm inclined to let you use the farm free of charge. Our customary fee for the venue is $5,000 for the day.  

WHAT??!!  Although we were hoping to not have to pay for a venue, we were thinking that we may need to the way things were looking. In my emails to random people, I had said that we could pay something, although not much, since we were trying to raise money, not spend it.  My mind was blown even more.  Not only did we have a venue, but it's a farm, in Leiper's Fork, and we are paying $0 for it. $0 when they typically charge $5,000.  AND- it's a man that we don't even know.  Our Father keeps on blessing abundantly.  I went out to the farm the next week with a couple of sweet friends, and Paul gave us the grand tour.  The chickens and the pigs and the horses and the dogs were all there to greet us.  We tasted some unbelievably sweet cherry tomatoes and enjoyed just walking the farm and getting to see a little snippet of farm life.  {He is a New Yorker and former mall developer, with a really interesting story on how he came to this bitty little town in Tennessee.}  When I thanked him over and over and told him he really didn't know how much this meant to us, he just said, "Well, I just thought it would be a good thing to do."  He is using what he has been blessed with to be a blessing to others, and so the circle continues.   

Roaring Creek Farm

We have an awesome line up of musicians that I can't wait for you to hear.  Each one of them are different and special in their own way.  From close family, to close friends, to almost strangers, they all share a love for our Lord and have eagerly and graciously joined our cause. We can't thank them enough for their generosity.   We are asking everyone to bring a pie or two to share, a blanket and chairs and we will provide coffee, cider, water and some other treats to snack on throughout the afternoon.  We have some fun activities planned along with some live auction items and an emcee that provides a level of hilarity that I can't even describe to you.  If you don't know Joseph Kirkpatrick, you need to come just for him alone if for no other reason.  If you do know him, you might be coming for him alone, and we're okay with that.   You can purchase tickets ahead of time at www.loveforlulah.eventbrite.com or pay at the gate.   We have a facebook event page that you can join and keep up with more specific details as we get closer to the day.  It's set up so that you can invite your friends so please share and help us spread the word!  We'll be doing some giveaways soon so keep checking back for your chance to win!  

We hope you will join us for a day of great music, yummy pies, good people, beautiful scenery and God's glory.  All for a little girl named Tallulah, who we are patiently waiting for in hope.  

"Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Romans 8:24-25

***please see our most recent post for a concert update and fabulous auction item that has been donated for our cause!  

A call to prayer

It's official.  Our dossier has made it to it's final destination- the Adoption Central Authority in Madagascar!!!  Hallelujah praise Jehovah!!  We have filled out every single form ever created, gotten every certification/authentication that is possible for us to get (from here to Madagascar) and jumped through every hoop necessary to finally make it to the wait list.  50 weeks ago we started this journey and sent in our initial application.  We've been told that the estimated wait time from here to be matched with a child is 6-12 months. We know that it could be longer than that, but we also know that it could be shorter than that.  Only God knows.  All we know for sure is that we are praying hard that God will move quickly on Tallulah's behalf and bring us together soon, if that is His will.   We are overjoyed to get to this point and just can't wait to see her face.  Thank you God!!!

A few weeks ago, I was spending the day with a dear friend.  I was sharing with her something about how our process was going (can't even remember what specifically) and she said, "So why aren't we praying about this more?".  She is a prayer warrior if there ever was one, and her saying that really has stuck with me.  Not that I think people aren't praying; I know lots and lots of people are because you've told me you are.  But, just like in my last post,  I do think we need to be more public and more specific with our prayer requests during this process, and I know that the more people that are praying for us and for Tallulah is what will bring God the most glory.  And isn't that the ultimate goal here?

I love the passage in 2 Corinthians where Paul is dramatically recounting the story of he and Timothy's impending death in Asia.  After telling them how God rescued them and he knows He will do it again, he asks the Corinthians to join him in prayer:

"Join us in this work. Lend us a hand through prayer so that many will give thanks for the gift that comes to us when God answers the prayers of so many."  (2 Cor. 1:11 The Voice)

And I love how the New Century Version words this passage.  As I was reading it, I added my own words in regards to Tallulah's story: 

"We had great burdens that were beyond our own strength.  Truly, in our own hearts we believed that {Tallulah might never come home}. But this happened so we would not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises people from the dead... We have put our hope in Him, and He will {bring her home}. And you can help us with your prayers. Then many people will give thanks because of what will happen to us—that God blessed us because of their many prayers."

So, as we are praying that God will move quickly, we are going to ask for you to do the same.  We are not trusting in our own strength or resources to bring Tallulah across oceans, but are trusting God totally and putting all hope in Him.  If you feel compelled to do so, we would like to invite you to join us in prayer on Sunday nights at 9pm CST, until Tallulah gets home.  Yes, you read that correctly, until she gets home.  Our specific prayer requests may change, but for now, we ask that you join with us in our prayers: 

• for her to know that she is God's child and He loves her and takes great delight in her
• for God to comfort her and for her to know that comfort comes from Him
• for her to feel God's presence with her
• for God to give her hope that she indeed has a family and that they are coming for her
• and lastly that God will move quickly on her behalf and that she will be an orphan no more

Like I've said before, this is a battle we are fighting against the evil one, who doesn't want this to happen, who doesn't want her to know God's love and the love of a family.  And every spiritual battle needs to be covered in prayer.  If you're anything like me and have to set a reminder on your phone to put clothes in the dryer, then by all means set your alarm!  Pray by yourself, with your spouse or make this a part of your family prayer time.  Again, I know that many of you have told me that you are already praying daily for us, (and thank you for that!) but what a beautiful picture it would be if so many of God's children (yes, I know that there are only 8 people subscribed to my blog, but I have to believe that a few more than that read it :) were praying all at the same hour of the night for this precious child, to the Mighty One who saves. Praying to the only One who will win this battle for her.  

We would love to know how many prayer warriors will be joining us, so feel free to leave a comment here or on our Love for Lulah facebook page.  Thank you for loving us and helping us bring her home.  

Really, really, REALLY good news.

Two weeks ago, our dossier F.I.N.A.L.L.Y. made it out of the Malagasy Embassy and boarded a plane for Madagascar.  Can I get a big AMEN!!!  It was beginning to look like we were never going to get out of the states after being stuck at the embassy for over 7 weeks, but just when frustration was setting in, I opened my email to see this:

Hi Shawna,

Your dossier is on its way to Madagascar! Congratulations!

Best regards,

Micah 

Oh, you can imagine how happy that little sentence made us!!!  I'm sure that sweet Micah at our agency had no idea that she just made our summer!!  Well, she might have had some idea since I had been bugging her every week for about the last seven weeks.  The coolest part of this milestone was this:  The day before this email came, during prayer request time at church, I asked for prayers for our adoption process and specifically that God would get our dossier unstuck at the embassy and move it on to Madagascar FAST.  It had been a while since either one of us had asked for prayers for our adoption in a public setting, but that morning it was really on my heart to ask everyone to pray about it.  I had been getting some conflicting reports about how things were going in the Mada program from different sources, and I just was feeling discouraged and unsure to be honest.  Jonathan told me when we got home later that he actually was going to ask for the same thing but I beat him to it.  Then, the first email I opened up Monday was that little jewel above.  I love how God loves to so quickly and obviously answer our prayers sometimes.  He gets ALL the glory for that.  Hallelujah!!   

"And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us."       1 John 5:14

Thank you, Father, for continuing to blow us away by Your faithfulness and Your love.    

Our dossier has made it to Madagascar, so what does that mean?  Well, we are not on the official waiting list yet.  It still has a couple more weeks of certification that it has to go through before it gets to the Central Authority.  (I'm surprised they didn't make it stop at every country it flew over to get their certification too)  When it gets to the CA (hopefully by the end of the month), we will be put on the wait list to be matched with a child.  We have been told the wait time for a referral is around 6-12 months.  We are currently the 4th US family on the list as it is such a new program here in the states, but ahead of us are European families and we have no idea how many.  So, we ask you to continue to pray BIG that God will move QUICKLY and bring us to Tallulah as soon as His time and purposes are served.  

I feel bad that I've been sitting on this news for two weeks, but it has been the last two weeks of summer break around here and I have been trying to savor the time that was left with the boys.  Today was the first full day of school, so summer break is officially over.  We had a really great summer and had the opportunity to take an incredible two week trip together.  It was a trip full of dear friends, beautiful sights, hard work and amazing witness of the light of Jesus that is breaking through in a very dark place.  I am hoping to share about it soon.  It was a summer we will never forget- and this news was a wonderful way to end it!  

I have gobs of photos from the trip that I will eventually share- but I'll leave you with this sweet one for now.  After a 70+ hour work week last week for Jonathan, he spent a lot of time Saturday making more of the crosses that we are selling.  Eli wanted to help of course, so I snapped this of them both working hard.  Can't wait until she can see this picture one day, of a father and brother's love for a girl they've never met.  

  

ps- I am having an instasale on instagram Thursday night at 9 CST.  I'm cleaning out closets as another way to raise money for our adoption!  If you don't follow me already, find me on ig if you'd like to participate.  @sugarmillie  If you've never done one before, well I haven't either, so I know just about as much as you.  :)