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