Getting Close!

We just received this e-mail from our case worker.
The e-mail is followed by a short video of a ministry in Bogota.
The video is not our specific information, yet it captures the heart of God at work in Colombia.

Hi, Bill & Shirlene. I'm happy to be able to tell you that your dossier has been sent to the Valle regional office (the city of Cali) where there is a sibling group of 3. That's all we know at the moment. We don't know ages or genders or names or anything. Just that there is a specific group that your dossier was sent for.

Lucia tried to check on it, but the director of the Valle regional office is on vacation this week and due back sometime next week. Hopefully we can find out from her by the end of next week what kind of a timeline they are looking at for making the assignment. Sometimes regional offices will tell us a little about the children and sometimes they won't, so I won't promise you that, but at least we should be able to get an idea of when the assignment will happen.
I'm very excited for you. Good thing we already got you started working on those FBI and medical letters! Hopefully you'll be putting them to good use very soon.

God Bless,
Julie E.

2008/2009 School year update - prayer request

We're off to school again.
A bit earlier than usual, Matt started his Spanish class this week due to the expectancy of his teacher (a new little Pond on the way, congratulations!!)
Melissa starts her dual enrollment classes at the local community college on the 25th. Please pray that the professors will be willing to work with her missing 6wks. of class for our trip to Colombia(their policy is if you miss 3 classes you automatically fail). If they will not, we will have to withdraw her the first week of class and find other options. If we need to find other options please pray that God would open doors for where He would have her.
Praise!! Melissa was able to get her driver's license so that will make commuting for co-op/classes much easier.
We are currently not sure when we will be leaving, but when we do Matt will need to continue his studies at home and Melissa will need to continue her studies abroad. Please pray for both for logistics, grace and favor to work out all the details and to not "loose school time".
Also when we get back for us all to adjust to each other to extend love and grace as we "find normal" and get into a routine of how to spend our time and energy.
Please pray for Shirlene for wisdom to guide the transition academically, language wise and functionally for our home.
Pray for God to provide the right tools needed for the "new children's" school year.
Thank you all for partnering with us in this journey through your support and prayers!
May the Lord be glorified!
Bill, Shirlene, Nikki, Melissa, Matt, ?,?,?

August 08 Update

HOORAY!!!!!
August has been a busy month as far as new information goes. First of all, the 2nd yard sale netted $1500 nearly matching the 1st one. Also, internet sales of the items "too good" for a yard sale are nearing $2000! So by the end of July, through the generous contributions, by you, of gifts and "junk" we were only $7000 shy of our estimated goal of $18,000.
The first week in August we heard from one of the adoption grant fund ministries. They told us that they wouldn't be able to help us. That was a setback in our hearts as we were tempted to waiver in our faith. Last Sunday we were talking about adoption finances and what to do next. Through our conversation it was apparent that God was increasing our faith that He is indeed Jehovah-jireh (God will provide). The next day Matt checked the mail and found a letter from Steven Curtis Chapman's adoption fund, Shaohannah's Hope, granting us the remaining $7000!

God is good! Even if no finances are available, God is good. When we finally receive our children, God is good. If, tomorrow, He decides to take it all away...He is still good!

Secondly, we were supposed to hear from Colombia by 8/6/08 concerning our dossier. We would be approved, denied or more info would be required of us. That day came and went as our anticipation turned to anxiousness. Our adoption agency began calling Colombia every day to find out why the deadline had passed with no resolve. Last week it was discovered that the person who was handling our dossier had an illness in the family and was taking substantial time off of work. In essence our paperwork was just sitting on her desk. God is obviously in control of all events and is orchestrating them to provide the children He wants to be matched with us.

On Monday, 8/18/08, we received this e-mail from our adoption agency:

As of Friday, your dossier review was complete and your file was on the director's desk for her signature. Yeah!

The next thing they'll do is look to see where there is the right sibling group and then they'll send your dossier out for assignment. They may have one ready right away. Or we may have to wait a few weeks while they locate children who are legally free for adoption that match your criteria. But at least the review is over and you have been approved. Be sure you go out and celebrate!

God bless,
Julie E.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers specifically:
That God would grant mercy unto salvation to these precious children that will be Jones'.
That God would prepare them for the tremendous changes that are about to take place in their lives.
Travel mercies for all six of us
That God would use us to His glory in the lives of people we contact along the way.

Pray also for provision for physical needs that are not directly related to the cost of the adoption.
Some of these are:
We need to sell our 7 passenger van and find a bigger one, Bedroom furniture, Kitchen/meals prep items, Downstairs bathroom renovation, Age appropriate homeschool supplies, etc.

Bill, Shirlene, Nikki, Melissa, Matt, ?,?,?

July 08 Update

Dear Friends,

We want to take a couple of minutes to update you concerning our adoption process. We were anticipating hearing from Colombia about our referral (specific information about the children; names and ages etc.)in the beginning of June, instead we received a request for more information. This means additional time and $ will be required in the process. We were initially tempted to discouragement but soon realized this was God’s timing so we could raise the funds needed to complete the adoption. All things are indeed accomplished by God, in His time. By God’s grace Shirlene was able to fairly quickly assemble the needed paperwork. It was received in Colombia the 1st week in July. We are now anticipating our referral. We were told to look for it after 3 weeks. When that happens, we will be traveling 4 -6 weeks later. Please pray that God would adjust our hearts to rejoice in His sovereign timing.

Since our last update, we have seen God at work in numerous ways. We have been blessed with knowing you are praying for us. This continues to be our greatest need. We are very grateful and blessed by so many of you who have given of your time for both fundraising and the readying of our home. And we have been greatly encouraged as we watch God providing our financial and travel needs through you, our friends and family.

Twenty-four families donated “stuff” for our yard sale and numerous others gave of their precious time to help us prepare and administrate it! That Saturday, God provided a little over $1700.00. Some of the items people donated wouldn’t have made as much at a yard sale as they would on-line, so little by little we have been posting these items on eBay and other sites so far over $800 more has been added to the total. God has been amazing our family with His kindness!! Nearly 50% of donated items were sold and our garage is holding the remaining donations. Therefore we are having ANOTHER yard sale. Saturday, July 19th we are hosting the Jones’ Second Adoption Yard Sale! If you are interested in donating anything, feel free to drop off between this Saturday and next Wednesday at our home. If that is too far you can drop by the church office, anything that would fit in Nikki’s Pathfinder.

Please continue to pray that God would meet us as He continues His story and testimony on that morning! A growing number of people have been used by Him to minister to us and to people whom we don’t even know. Many people who came to the yard sale would ask questions about the adoption, which resulted in some neat opportunities to share of God’s love for us and His heart for adoption! Total strangers were affected to tears and offered to pray for us. Over and over, the yard sale mindset of “get the lowest price” was abandoned by our neighbors as they offered several dollars more than we were asking for an item. Thank you for your prayers! Feel free to email back if you have any questions.

In Christ, Bill, Shirlene, Nikki, Melissa, Matt and ?, ?, ? Jones

June 08 Update

Dear Family and Friends,

Greetings from the Jones family! Wow, summer is almost here. It’s hard to believe time has flown so fast. We thought this would be a great time to catch you all up with what is happening with our family. We know everybody wants to “keep up with the Joneses” so ……..

The latest news is that we are in the process of an international adoption for a sibling group of three children from Colombia. We have had quite a journey to bring us to this point. We were originally considering China, and then Vietnam, but we finally decided on Colombia. We are excited about all that we have learned and all that God has shown us along the way about faith, patience, trust and perseverance. We have been “in process” for almost two years. We collected all the needed paperwork, got it approved, and sent it to Colombia. Upon receiving it, the adoption agency communicated to us that, due to the specific need of sibling group adoption, they would be expediting our paperwork. We were just recently told it could be as soon as a week or two that we get our approval and referral (specifics about the kids). This news was a bit of a shock. The normal time frame for approval and referral is 4-5 months. Needless to say, we are excited and challenged by this new time frame. There is still much to do, so much that we cannot do it on our own. We believe this is by God’s design.

Our faith in God is strong, and we believe that since He is bringing children into our family, He will work out all the details and open all the doors, making a way for our new children to join us. Yet, we need to prepare and position ourselves to do His work in the lives of these precious children. We need “our family” to help and support us in various ways. There are so many ways to get involved in the adoption process and there is such a huge need. We believe God wants us all to be involved in the lives of those in need. We believe just as strongly that all levels of involvement are equally important. We would like to ask all of you to join us in this journey as you feel led by His Spirit. Here are some of our needs.

1) For prayer.

*For travel mercies. Our agency assures us that Colombia is safe.

*For our stay in Colombia, that all six of us (Bill, Shirlene, Melissa and the 3 new children) would bond together.

*For a bridge across language barriers.

*For the new three to adjust to all the changes in family, country and culture.

*For God’s grace to reign in our home and that He would give Mom and Dad wisdom.

*For the gospel to be our daily strength and for the salvation of our newest family members.

2) For finances. We have almost half of our expenses paid. We have all the rest hitting at the same time. We estimate the remaining costs to be appx. $16,000.

A We will be fundraising to help meet this need. If you feel led to volunteer ideas or help manage a piece of this process, that would be a tremendous blessing.

We are planning a yard/bake sale June 14th and other ideas such as a silent auction . If you have items or services to donate to the yard sale or for fund raising purposes please call or contact Shirlene to arrange for pickup.

B We need people to come to our yard/bake sale and buy June 14^th at our place.

C If you would have it on your heart to donate money, please contact Jeff or Kathy Johnson. They have graciously agreed to be our liaison for the funds. Please e-mail us for their contact info.

D We are going to need to buy plane tickets for six people. Mom, Dad, and Melissa will travel there. Bill will return after the legal process releases him. Shirlene, Melissa, and the three new children will be flying home once the entire process is complete. Delta Airline offers a special ticket that allows for a flexible date of return since it is hard to estimate the time it takes for paperwork. If anyone has Delta frequent flyer miles to donate, that would be a huge help. The tickets are one of the largest expenses.

E We have applied for grants and no interest loans. Normal channels take months, which we don’t have because of the expedite, and we are no longer eligible after receiving the children. Please pray that God would provide.

3) Equipping our home for three more children (furniture, clothes etc…). Again it is hard to tell what we will need before we have the referral. Once we know ages, sizes and sexes, this will be more clear.

4) While we are in Colombia, Nikki and Matt will be here by themselves. The current estimate is 4-6 wks. If anyone would be able to have them over, that would be a break, for Matt in particular. Nikki would be at work during the weekdays so Matt would be by himself. He is 15 and able to stay home alone, but it would get lonely.

If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to e-mail or call us. We will try to get back to you within a week. Also please feel free to forward this to anyone who might be interested.

Email: exodus152@juno.com

This is a lot of information along with many requests. It is very humbling to ask for help in this way. We trust that no one will feel burdened by this note, but that each one of you will respond as you feel led to, and God will work through it all to accomplish His plan and provide a home for these children, because He is the Father to the fatherless and the Great Redeemer, who places the orphans in families and blesses the unworthy ones, like us. At one time, we were all orphans, apart from the family of God. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5

May the Lord bless and keep you,

Bill, Shirlene, Nikki, Melissa and Matt Jones

Welcome Everyone!

Hi everyone!
Welcome to the Jones Family Blog site. I will be posting updates on family events as well as our adoption journey.