the Body

Prayer Journal
May 7th, 2015
Thursday morning

Father Jesus,
May 7th-the date for our court date in Kampala. A court date that would give us legal guardianship of Keziah and be the beginning of the end of paperwork to bring her "home" to her forever family.
A court date that will not happen. My heart aches as I think of dear Keziah and I pray she is loved, fed, clothed, educated...cared for. I pray for her Aunt-that she may love and do diligence to Keziah's care just as I pray she would have wanted for us to care for her. And that she...and Keziah...would know You.

The Aunt is not the enemy.
The process is not the enemy.
Satan and turning our hearts from our Sovereign God and the mind of Christ is the enemy.
Yet even as I write this prayer, the peace and love of the prayers of so many Believers wash over me and our family. Their prayers, love, cards, emails, texts, Facebook comments have all sustained us. The Body of Christ in action is awe-inspiring. It's humbling. It's a privilege to be part of.
Thank you Jesus for who You are to us, for what You love, and for grace during hard times.
Amen

Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Habakkuk 3:17-18 (emphasis mine)

 

today

Today was the day we were heading to Uganda.
We were to leave shortly after lunch, head to O'hare, then to London, then to Entebbe & on to our guesthouse in Kampala.

The last several days have been hard. Several tears. Lots of hugs. And much time embracing family time-bubbles and chalk during these beautiful spring days, walks after dinner, lots of snuggles and books after tub time and taking deep breaths. Re-arranging an entire room of packed clothes, toys, medicine, diapers, etc. was my therapy for the first day. And then I cleaned. I cleaned my kitchen-I mean, REALLY cleaned my kitchen :). I listened to God through scrubbing my floors and scrubbing my cabinets. God often speaks to me when I clean. And so...I clean. It's monotonous. It's therapeutic. It's also easy to wipe up tears if you're cleaning.

We are humbled by the love we have felt through many of you-your texts, comments, calls and emails are encouraging and felt. Your prayers have sustained us, dear friends. Saturday night's adoption fundraiser was so humbling. To have to share such vulnerable and difficult news only 24 hours after we found out was made a bit easier as we looked out and saw so many dear faces...and you cried with us. And you hugged us. And you prayed for us. To see an entire room of college kids praying for Keziah's care and for orphans around the world is awe-inspiring. It's the Body of Christ in action. Thank you for this.

So today...today, we continue to grieve. We continue to heal. We continue to place Keziah and her aunt and her care in our Almighty's hands.

There is also hope. We had a good conversation on Tuesday afternoon with our adoption agency in Texas...asking for updates regarding Keziah and her well-being. They are waiting to hear back from the probation officer & the lawyer team regarding Keziah and her placement with the aunt. The aunt is a school teacher. This is encouraging as this means she is employed and likely to be able to provide for her niece. That gives us some comfort. We also began the "what now?" questions in our dialogue with our agency. We ask for continued prayers for wisdom in this regard...

About 6 months after I lost my Dad I read this quote...

I can't go back. 

I can't stay here.

I must go forward.

Going back tends to boil up bitterness or frustration in me. And while grieving is necessary and healthy, I know staying in my grief and sadness for an undetermined amount of time isn't wise. And so forward, I/we must go. Forward with our family. Forward with decisions. And most importantly, continually forward into His outstretched arms.

Much love,

Katie

change in the journey

"They found an aunt."

This is the post you never want to write. Friday afternoon we received a phone call from our agency. Earlier that day, during the last visit by the lawyer's team to the village in Uganda where Keziah was located, they were told she had been given to an aunt in another village who wants to raise her and does not want proceed any longer with the adoption...

In the span of 24 hours, our lives of packing up our family and traveling overseas for 2 months to grow our family came to a halt. On the surface this appears to be good news for her. To be raised by a loving family member in your country of origin is always what one would want to see happen. So we pray this is truly what is happening and we pray the "Redeemer" of the fatherless will protect and keep her as His own.

Underneath the surface, this means three years into our journey, eighteen months after bringing this little Ugandan into our hearts, and seven days before we were to board a plane to finish the adoption, we must...barring a miracle...say good-bye. This unexpected change in the journey is hard. Very hard.

So we are asking for prayer...

• Pray for Keziah, that she is safe and that our Father will continue to take care of her and bring her into a forever family.
• Pray for our family as we grieve, process this news, and adjust.
• Pray for wisdom as we consider the next steps in our family journey.

Thank you, dear friends, more than you will ever know....

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear..."

Psalm 46:1-2

court date confirmed

Another step of faith.
Another confirmation.

Last week we heard news that our May 7th court date is confirmed. YES!!
Our agency advises us to put travel plans in place at least 1 week in advance and currently with flight times, availability and pricing, our tickets are on hold for departing April 30th out of O'hare into Entebbe (Kampala, Uganda-the capital) via London. Yes, exactly 12 days. We are booking our flights with Adoption Airfare, an agency that specializes in non-profit, adoption or humanitarian travel and they have been great working with us and getting us good flight times. And they are able to put potential bookings on hold for a really long time.

We are still waiting to hear back from our agency on the last round of family visits and interviews for Keziah by the lawyer team and those should prayerfully happen this Wednesday, April 22nd. After confirmation those visits in Uganda went well and there are no glaring red-flags, we will purchase our tickets.

Continued prayers for peace and trust while the final pieces fall into place are appreciated. We are in the midst of a very busy time for our family. Trying to pack up our 4 person family to live life overseas in a developing African country for 2 months where we will be a 5 person family with two five year olds (Keziah will turn 5 June 7th-while we are over there) can very quickly overwhelm me. However, it is by God's amazing faithfulness we are able to take deep breaths, prioritize first things first (namely applying for Visas & final document checks), work through one sticky-note To Do list at a time (there are several all over the house) and take one day at a time. We are also trying to soak up individual time with each Haven and Covenant before the "birth"' of their sister :)

Several of you have asked what you can do or what we need as we continue to go forward in our journey...
1. Please continue to pray-for Keziah: for her needs, care & upcoming transition into our family.
2. Prayer for our current family: for our health, upcoming travel shots, packing & preparation.
3. Continued prayer for the process of adoption-it includes SO many people, signatures & timelines and only our Almighty God can orchestrate all these fine details for one forever family.
4. And lastly...as our journey has lengthened, so too have financial needs. If giving to our journey is something God has or is placing on your heart, we have been and will be forever grateful for your support of our family. Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744 (Miller family #3137 in memo line) is a great way to give a tax-deductible donation to our adoption fund. If you would rather donate to help offset some of the other miscellaneous family costs we will incur while traveling (i.e. Haven & Covenant's airfare, lodging, food, visas, etc), please contact us directly [arlanandkatie@gmail.com]. We also have joined with Gobena coffee, an extension of Lifesong for Orphans, to help promote great fair-trade coffee while also fundraising for our journey. Click here for more information.

Again, thanks so much for praying us through this journey.
We are loosely yet excitedly holding our girl in your prayer hands and in the arms of our Almighty and can't wait to introduce you to her beautiful face when we get overseas. Our journey, along with a few pictures of Keziah :), will be shared at an upcoming awareness/concert/fundraiser night on Saturday, April 25 @ 6:30pm at the AC Fellowship Hall in Gridley. We are blessed to be part of a night to bring honor to God's faithfulness through adoption along side our fellow college ministry and their talents.

Blessings,
Arlan & Katie, Haven & Covenant

coffee club

ahhh...smell that?
There's nothing quite like the smell of a fresh pot of warm coffee brewing in my kitchen!
If you are a coffee lover like we Millers, then I have a propistion for you: Coffee Club.

Gobena coffee is dedicated to helping orphans around the world and has also begun a coffee club where by your purchase of coffee on a regular basis can help support our adoption in bringing dear Keziah Patience home.

Click here to visit our family link to get started & read the details. It's quite easy. And won't take too much time. Thanks for considering coffee club & next time your in my neighborhood, stop on by...I'd love to share a cup of coffee with you!

Love,
the Millers

PS-we'd LOVE it if you'd share our link with friends & family!

4 Millers to Uganda. 5 Millers back.

It.is.unbelievable.
It.is.God.
May 7th.

Right before the Easter holiday, we were emailing back & forth to our adoption agency in Texas regarding the status of our dear girl in Uganda...where she was at...what the uncle was thinking...and what the strength of our case before a judge looked like....

And then there it was...the following words from our Ugandan lawyer:

I truly have a gut feeling we have a good case for Patience. 

The good news is the judge has said she will give us a date of our choice. Please choose a hearing date and we move forward. 

2nd May to 10th May or June 1st onwards 

 I read it. And then re-read it. And then read it again. 

A court date?????!!!!! In one month?! 

Wahooooooooooo!!!!

We are waiting confirmation for our May 7th court date and have been advised to not buy plane tickets quite yet, as the team in Uganda is in the process of gathering remaining paperwork and conducting final family interviews. Holding this loosely in God's hands is really hard because we are so excited but it is necessary to do so as we realize timelines in international adoption can change quickly....BUT we are super excited! This gives us hope. This gives us smiles. And above all, this shows us our God in mighty form.

So what now? If all paperwork is processed favorably, we will leave about 1 week ahead of our May 7th court date so we are busy preparing ourselves, our kids, and our lives to be in Uganda for about 6-8 weeks total. We are choosing to remain in Uganda for the duration of the court hearing and then the paperwork chase (passport, visa, etc) needed for Keziah to then travel home. And both Haven and Covenant are coming with us for that duration. 4 Millers to Uganda. 5 Millers back.

Prayers ARE needed! And you, my blog readers, have been so faithful in praying us to this point in our journey, I know you'll pray us through this next part! 

Please pray for:

1. The final details of the paperwork & interviews in Uganda to go smoothly and that the team there would be able to get all necessary documents before our travel time of late April/early May.

2. For the details of our paper process here stateside. That we double check our "i's" and triple check our "t's" and that we don't become OCD in the process!

3. For our kids as we begin this intial transition phase & preparation...vaccinations, packing up a few things, but leaving most things behind, and getting ready to welcome/love/meet a new sister.

4. For the final pieces of our finances to fall in place. We are humbled that a fundraiser/awareness night was planned by our college kids & was scheduled prior to us receiving our court date. The benefit event is being held on April 25th @ 6:30pm in Gridley...right before we fly to Uganda...God is such a God of timing. (email me for details if interested)

5. Perspective for Arlan and I. That we keep in mind what adoption is, the hard-hard days ahead, for the next part of this journey, and to remember God's faithfulness. 

 Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.

Isaiah 26:8

 

brief adoption udpate

Thank you all for your continued prayers the last few weeks...they have been treasured.

We have not received much news regarding our adoption process. We do know our Uganda team was NOT able to meet last week with the community/family members to obtain the needed affidavits to strengthen our case as we had hoped. We are also still waiting to hear when/if the next attempt to gain this needed paperwork will be and what they next steps in our journey are...

Amidst the chaos and uncertainty, your prayers have been felt and mean so much.

Much love,
Arlan, Katie & kiddos

"The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him..."

Nahum 1:7a

raw honesty

This post is much overdue.
It's been on Arlan & I's heart over the last several months actually. Probably since late September. Yes...3 months late. Pathetic...I know.
Here goes...raw honesty. The good. The bad. The ugly.

Late summer & even early fall found us still eagerly anticipating & awaiting our phone call/email that would declare our adoption paperwork sent to the Ugandan courts, looked over by a judge & granted a court date. A court date means we travel. And by we, I mean Arlan, myself, Covenant & Haven. If you'll remember (click here), shortly before Covenant was born our agency was pretty confident we would most likely be traveling to Uganda by early/mid summer to go get Keziah Patience as our paperwork was progressing well.

Summer came & summer went. No forward motion with our paperwork to the judges. We then switched our hopes & prayers to potential fall travel and having her home by Christmas. But as the leaves changed color, the paperwork seemed stuck. The lawyer hadn't been using the most recent homestudy (updated in April after Covenant was born) and thus we had some glitches with the testimonies we were supposed to sign off on in October. We over-nighted documents to our agency in TX only to find out we had to redo them the next day as the documents needed to be single-sided printouts and not double sided. (insert sigh)
Our documents eventually found their way to Uganda and thus were sent to the lawyer one last time before being sent on to the courts. We just received word last week that the courts finally have our documents. It's December. [insert double sigh]

I hesitate to even give you a time frame as to when our agency expects a potential hearing for Keziah. It could be as soon as two months. Most likely it will be another 4-5 months. We are ECSTATIC for our dear Kaeb friends as they are traveling to Uganda in February to go get their son. This shows forward progress with the country & international adoption in Uganda. Click here to follow their adoption journey.

Raw honesty comes in the form of me admitting my fears...so here goes...
I fear our little girl will never come "home".
I fear she is spending yet another holiday/month/week without her forever family.
I fear she is continually searching [as one of her videos confirms] for "a family of a different color who will take me 'home'...and we aren't coming.
I fear we won't have the opportunity to show her the love, touch, growth, health that Christ first showed us.
I fear we can't even begin to work through the ugly/trauma/attachment/neglect that often comes with children from hard places.

There. There is raw honesty.
But glance again at all of the above phrases and see how each sentence begins.
I know...pathetic.

Adoption isn't about the "I"...it's about God's back-up plan. Adoption isn't natural. It's hard. There's a lot of hurt....ugly...frustration...and the waiting. Yet God's word provides for a way to equip His Body to pray, provide & adopt children who don't have parents. And Arlan and I have been called to adoption and many of you reading this have helped equip us. We are asking His Body to continue to pray.

Our lives are SO blessed right now. We are looking forward to a holiday season with friends & family...Haven is giddy with anticipation of presents & cousins. We are excited to have our "promised" Covenant spend his first Christmas munching on wrapping paper, lighting up the room with his smiles, and peeling around the family room with his push car. And yet...there is an ache in our hearts. An ache knowing our daughter is 1/2 way around the world wondering why this "different colored family" doesn't come get her and knowing there will be one more season of family memories she will have missed. 

Many of you have asked in recent weeks and months how our adoption is progressing...I'm usually more optimistic than this post possibly reflects. Yet, I'm also very real in communicating to you how we are continually petitioning you all as The Body to repeatedly pray. We are encouraged by those of you who are praying. And asking. And giving hugs when needed. Below are our prayer requests.

My lack of faith often translates to me trying to compartmentalize God's sovereignty. I'll declare I trust Him in all things, give lip service to His "timing is perfect" and know He has everything under control [I ususally do this with a big smile on my face too!] and YET I try and orchestrate details, wanting my/our agenda to "fit" into the timing of adding Keziah to our family. It is good for us to continually petition the Father for and repeatedly lay our prayer request time and time and time again at His feet. Do I or don't I trust Him fully? 

Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:

Jeremiah 32:17

Prayer Requests

• Pray for continued movement in Uganda...for our agency workers, lawyers, and judges overseeing our case. 
•  Pray for Keziah. She is now 4.5 years old (she was born about 8 months after Haven-July 2010) and must be wondering why this transition she has been told about is taking so long. 
• Pray for our family...especially Haven as we anticipate this transition. 
• Pray for our faith to be strong while we wait.
• Pray for continued provisions as needed costs increase due to the amount of time waiting.

Thank you for your prayers. We are blessed by your love & warmth each time you ask/hug/care.
Love-The Millers

adoption update-just...waiting

The Waiting Place...for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go

or a bus to come, or a plane to go

or the mail to come, or the rain to go

or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

or waiting around for a Yes or NO

or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite

or waiting for wind to fly a kite

or waiting around for Friday night

or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake

or a pot to boil, or a Better Break

or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants

or a wig that curls or Another Chance.

Everyone is just waiting.

Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss

While not trying to make light of a fairly impatient time right now, I am reminded of this page from one of Haven's favorite books...waiting. That's where we stand right now with our adoption. Many adoptive families can identify. Waiting. It actually relates to a lot of us, whether adopting or not. Most of our lives, in our minds, are in wait mode for that one person-job-car-roommate-situation-child-time period-degree-sense of peace...you fill in the blank. We are all waiting for something or someone we think will give us that ultimate, long-lasting peace. 

Reality is that getting a phone call which says we have a travel date...getting on that plane routed to Uganda...bringing our dear Keziah Patience home...having Covenant sleep all night...having Haven not wake up every.single.night...you get the picture (and a small glimpse into our lives right now :)...will not create the sense of complete and total peace that our Savior desires for us. 

It's His arms. 

His cross. 

His Word. 

His Spirit.

He wants us to turn to Him for that peace. 

For rest. 

For purpose. 

These are the reminders our great I AM is teaching me lately.

So to update everyone on our adoption...we are, in fact, just waiting.  

Waiting for our last piece of paperwork, namely her long form birth certificate to get filed, then into the lawyer's hands, who will then check to make sure we have all necessary paperwork needed to then file to the Ugandan courts. Once filed, we wait for a judge to look over our case and set a court/travel date for him/her to hear our case.

We are so appreciative of people's prayers and your inquiries. By you asking you give us courage that you care & are praying. Thank you. Thank you.

Please don't misunderstand...we are loving life right now & thankful for our small family. Arlan's place at ACCFS. Family. Friends. A cozy home. Haven getting ready to start preschool again soon. College kids about to come back for the school year. We are blessed.

Your continued prayers are greatly needed and appreciated. Below is some of our humble requests...they have stayed very similar to my last post:

• Timing~that God would provide timing/details of travel for our family.
• Guidance~travel preparation for us & also for our caseworker (Emily), Ugandan lawyer & investigator & our judge(s).
• Patience~that we can trust in our Almighty & patiently wait on others overseas.
• Support~that the rest of our travel expenses would be provided when needed.
• Keziah~for her daily care, her extended family, her nutrition & play & for her little heart.

Interestingly enough...have I ever mentioned our daughter's given birth name is Nkukunda Patience?

Probably NOT a coincidence? :)

 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

Psalm 27:14

Adoption update

Soooooo....it's the middle of June and we still have not heard when our court dates are & when we are able to travel to Uganda to meet & love our little daughter. June/July court dates don't seem to be in our future.  Since the Ugandan courts close for all of August, it seems unlikely that unless we get a date soon, we won't be traveling till late summer/early fall.  To say this is somewhat disappointing is an understatement...it means several more months away from our daughter and several more months of waiting.

Yes-we are loving our new addition of Covenant to our family.  His smiles melt our hearts.
Yes-we are loving on Haven and watching her become a great big sister...Covenant hears her voice enter a room & those little eyes search her out. She has some fun summer activities lined up including swim lessons & Family Baseball.
Yes-we are loving the transition of 2 children-even the hair-pulling out days!  :)
Yes-we realize we may only be given one week's notice until we travel overseas with our family for 5-6 weeks.
And Yes, we realize adding one more child to our family, specifically a child from another country who has been without her Mommy & Daddy now for about 3.5 years, will be a blessing & difficult...

Yet...our hearts are in Uganda every day.  Thinking about Keziah. Praying for her.  Wondering what she's doing. eating. seeing. living.  And praying & trusting our Almighty is going ahead of us & preparing us. 

Things (ie paperwork, lawyers, investigators, reps) seem to be moving in the right direction...it just seems to be a slow right direction :)

Many of you have been on this adoption journey with us for now over 2 years (we submitted our paperwork in May 2012)....thank you for all those prayers, support & love.  We are getting close people...very close.

Continued prayers would be appreciated for:

• Timing~that God would provide timing/details of travel for our family.
• Guidance~travel preparation for us & also for our caseworker (Emily), Ugandan lawyer & investigator & our judge(s).
• Patience~that we can trust in our Almighty & patiently wait on others overseas.
• Support~that the rest of our travel expenses would be provided when needed.
• Keziah~for her daily care, her extended family, her nutrition & play & for her little heart...she has already experienced great loss in her 3.5 years.

"Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?"

Judges 4:14b

Adoption update...we are MUCH closer!!!

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. 

~ James 1:27

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

 ~ James 5:16b

This past week has been one of nesting at our home...getting the nursery ready for baby boy Miller, washing some baby clothes, disinfecting pacifiers, re-cleaning car seats, packing bags (we plan on delivering in Peoria, so we feel the need to be "extra" prepared)...and when we get updated Keziah news, it makes us even more excited to add to our family and "double-nest"...our term for preparing to add two children to our family! :)

Last Friday we received an update that our investigations for Keziah in Uganda are finishing up and we will then enter the final stage of paperwork before we travel.  The lawyers overseas will compile all necessary documents (parent death certificates, family consent forms, Keziah's birth certificate, any more medical documents, etc) before they pass it along to the court system in Uganda and we receive our court dates.  

The exciting news?!  

Court dates=travel dates! 

Travel dates to Uganda means each of us: Arlan, Katie, Haven, baby boy all pack our bags for an extended stay in Uganda (probably around 5-6 weeks total) until Keziah is able to travel home with us!  Folks, this means we prayerfully are getting MUCH closer to bringing our 2.5 year old daughter home with us.  Folks, this also means that our timeline has been moved up significantly.  Our expectant wait till we travel (while they finish up the last leg of paperwork) is anytime from one and half months to the more likely three/four months...we are expecting our estimated travel time to be by middle/end of summer.  We also received more pictures of our daughter this past week and it makes it that much more real to see her in her homeland, wearing her little shoes & darling dresses as we wait to meet her, love on her, touch her and bring her home into her forever family. Oh how I wish I could show you her beautiful face!

Can you sense the need to pray for us?!  Please sense YES!!!!
And here is how:

• Pray for the healthy & safe arrival of baby boy Miller as we "patiently" await meeting him.
• Pray that labor would go as naturally & smoothly as possible.  We know the details of timing with baby boy being born & us receiving our court/travel dates are ALL in God's hands and He uses this to build our faith & draw us closer to Him.   
• Pray that our need for final travel costs/expenses would be placed into God's hands as only HE can provide for this quickened time table.
• Pray for our discernment regarding what vaccinations to give our children & the final paperwork portion/details we are responsible for.
• Pray for Keziah's caretakers, investigators, lawyers & judge[s] that her case will come before.
• Pray for transition as we prepare to welcome 2 children into our lives in the next few months & transit one little 4.5 year old to the concept of siblings :)
• Pray that we continue to hold our daughter (& children) loosely as we realize they are a blessing from God, given to us for a time to raise & teach...all for HIS glory!

Thank you.

Thank you in advance for praying and supporting us.  We have felt your love & blessings on this journey thus far and have greatly appreciated you partnering with us to fulfill James 1:27 and James 5:16b.

If you'd like to take a trip back memory lane with our adoption thus far, below are the links:
January 2014 adoption update-click here 
December 2014 referral post-click here
January 2013 post-click here 
August 2012 post-click here 
Beginning of our journey [May 2012]-click here

Adoption update

Exodus 14:14 ~ The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Since we posted in December about receiving our referral, we have felt much prayer and can feel God orchestrating many of the details in our journey to bring our daughter home.  We've had several of you ask on our progress & what this means so below I shared a few praises the of what the last several weeks have held in bringing Keziah home...

• Right after our referral acceptance, while Haven was at pre-school, I spent a morning at Starbucks combing through our large binder of paperwork to ensure we haven't/hadn't missed any important updates on things such as home study, fingerprints, immigration [USCIS], etc...low and behold, while April of 2014 was in my mind for when our USCIS expired and we were repeatedly told to not let this expire as we would have to pay another large fee, I missed a small print date of federal fingerprints expiring on Jan. 2, 2014.  I was extremely disappointed in myself, because I knew the timing of our reprints would need to be a true act of God as with our upcoming Miller family trip (Dec. 13-18) and Kellenberger Iowa trip (Dec. 24-29), we would completely be at the government's whim on what/when we should show up...when they say jump in the adoption world, you don't question..."you ask how high & how often?".  We overnighted our information to Kansas City and prayed fervently that we would receive a date before our Jan. 2nd expiration date.  On Dec. 12th, our usually slow mail route arrived earlier than holiday-usual and in it was our USCIS fingerprint date of Dec. 23rd at 12:00pm in Naperville...such a praise!  Not only did we not have to reschedule travel plans with either planned family trips (which we were definitely prepared to do), it gave us plenty of time before our Jan. 2nd date. 
• We received Keziah's medical report on New Year's Eve night and it is so good!  Knowing relatively nothing about her when accepting our referral in early December, it was a great comfort to see her blood reports, height/weight measurements, etc come through.  Based upon her medical report, the Ugandan doctor assumed her DOB was about 3-3.5 year old (we didn't have an actual DOB yet) and thus we would have to re-file our USCIS as her height/weight indicated a larger than average 2 year old.  Our immigration paperwork is only cleared to accept a girl ages 0-2.  So we began researching about changing our home study with the state of IL and with USCIS so our paperwork would accept 0-3/4.
• In mid-January, we received contact from our agency in Texas that her actual DOB is September 20, 2011.  So in fact, Keziah is only 28 months today!   Even more surreal is God's timing in that she was born about a week and half after my earthly father met our Heavenly Father!

What does this now mean?  Well, we continue to work on updating our IL home study material (things like physicals, additional fingerprints, etc) and continue to pray for our little girl.  We still don't anticipate traveling for about 6-8 months to go and bring her home and oh, how the days sometimes drag!  Even with our little active Miller playing punching bags in my belly, I still feel/hear/desire/think about our little girl 1/2 world away.

Prayers would be appreciated for the following...

• God to orchestrate the details of paperwork, travel, dates, etc with our baby boy & Keziah.
• The Ugandan judges, probation officers, investigators would view our case favorably and in the best interest for Keziah.
• Transition for Haven as we are already sensing by questions/conversations/behavior that she understands this is going to be a big year for our family.
• God has provided such great care & provisions already...continue to pray that our final support for travel costs and travel fees would be covered and God would provide when needed.
• That we can continue to be still and wait upon Him as He fights for us & orchestrates this all.

  

Haven helping us stuff our Christmas cards & realizing some else is in our family letter :)

Sharing our referral news with the Millers & Schlipfs at Thanksgiving....I love Kaleigh's face!

Merry Christmas from the Millers!

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.

 Isaiah 9:6-7 

From our family to yours, we wish each and every one of you a Merry Christmas!

To each family who has waited, many families who are waiting & for millions of children hoping for their forever families, this is for you...

[warning: it's a tear jerker]

Referral!!!!

AHHHHH!!! We've been wanting to shout this from the mountain tops now for about 2 weeks...but God was telling us to be patient & thus after some finalization of paperwork, we are about to take the next step!

The day after...yep, you read that right...the day after we found out baby Miller was a boy, our agency from Texas called and introduced us to our 2nd daughter.  It was quite surreal...I couldn't actually believe it was happening!

Our little girl is about 20 months old, both of her parents are deceased and thus she really needs a Mommy & Daddy.  Her given name is Kukunda Patience and she is staying with a distant relative about 2 hours north of the capital city of Kampala.  We plan on calling her Keziah Patience [Job 42].  While we would LOVE to be on a plane tomorrow to go get her, it most likely will be a minimum of 6 months until we get our travel/court dates.  She is a happy child and while I cannot post a picture of her darling face...at least not yet...her eyes show the need for the love & acceptance & warmth that we as God's creation all long for...she needs a forever family.

Thank you, thank you for all your prayers, questions & conversations as we waited to meet Keziah.  Your prayers & financial support has been and continues to be tremendous and we are humbled by each of you.

Prayer requests for the upcoming months:

• Paperwork & medical exam to get processed and for the investigators, probation officers & judges to rule in Keziah's best interest.
• Our family dynamics and timing with baby boy on the way [due 4-1-14], Haven's adjustments & the details to fall into place.
• Continued financial provisions through the next paperwork and travel phases.

2014 promises to hold quite a few changes for the Millers...thankfully we know who holds them.

I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.
[Psalm 130:5]

this Friday!

Elegantes Trunk Show--Shop for a cause & support our adoption!

Date: Friday, June 21, 2013

Time: 10:00am till 7:00pm...stop by anytime!

Location: my house in Normal

 

I've unloaded the apparel and there is some CUTE stuff hanging in my house!  Love to see each of you & thanks for supporting not only survivors of trafficking but also our little Miller in Uganda.

www.elegantees.com

Elegantes Trunk Show--Shop for a cause & support our adoption!

Date: Friday, June 21, 2013

Time: 10:00am till 7:00pm...stop by anytime!

Location: my house in Normal

 

 

The Clothes:Elegantees are the merger of elegant and tees, and mix in the season’s coolest trends. Designed in NYC with modesty in mind, the brand is wearable and affordable.
To check out possible styles & see what this company stands for check out their website...
http://elegantees.com

 

The Cause:Elegantees are sewn by survivors of sex trafficking in Nepal and in New York City. One of the biggest challenges for survivors is finding healthy employment. Elegantees offers fair-trade employment to them. The sales are reinvested into back their lives and toward the freedom of others in modern-day slavery.  A portion of this sale will also help fund our Ugandan adoption.

 

The Event:Come join me in supporting a great cause and have some fun shopping too...I will have samples to try on, which will help you know if you like them when ordering. Of course, there will also be snacks...I hope you can come!

 

**Note: if you are not from Central IL but would like to support this great cause, please email me & I can get back to you on what styles are available.  Only certain styles will be mailed to me & I can be in contact with you regarding what styles (from online) will be available to purchase at my show.

 

Email me: katiekmiller@gmail.com or facebook me with questions!

 

 

a new blanket

A new blanket makes me prayerful & anxious to snuggle our daughter...

 ^{Exodus 14:14~The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.}

^{Psalm 37:4 ~Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.}

Summit 9 & adoption update

Two weeks ago, Arlan and I headed to Nashville for Christian Alliance for Orphans' (CAFO) annual conference regarding global movement & orphan awareness.  To say it was amazing, is a HUGE understatement.  The workshops were so informative, helpful & practical all wrapped into one...I went away thinking "regardless if we are adopting/fostering, it was great parenting wisdom!"  Some of the workshops we attended were:
The Multiracial Family
Nurturing the Whole Child
Becoming a Trauma Compentent Healing Parent
Inter-country Adoption Legal Matters
Attachment Parenting with your Brain

As we have now hit the 1 year mark into our adoption from Uganda, we are beginning to feel the timeline frustration.  We are still peaceful about our adoption but are/were beginning to feel a bit of a disconnect from our agency and the orphanage they are working with in Kampala to process referrals.  God gave us a huge encouragement boost in two ways in the past two weeks...gems of hope & "trust" right from Eccl. 1:1 and 1:11.  The first gem...

Summit was attended by approx. 2500 people over a 2 day span.  Our agency Children of All Nations out of Austin, TX, is not a Christian agency but speaking to our adoption counselor, she mentioned that most likely a few CAN representatives would be in Nashville; however, without an actual exhibit/booth, how would one random family (us) find a "few" CAN rep's...well, Friday night before the FINAL session of Summit was about to begin, two ladies come walking into the church and sit right behind Arlan and I...the one lady-distinguishable by pictures from CAN's website-happened to be the President/CEO of Children of All Nations!  Unbelievable!!!  Yet very believable with the God we serve!  We were able to introduce ourselves and chat with both the CEO and her marketing director.  They offered us a "glimpse" of an update with our Uganda program and orphanage.

 Arlan and I with CAN's president Snow Wu (on right) and Mary (marketing director) at Brentwood Baptist Church in Nashville

The second gem...
just yesterday, our monthly email update came out announcing that CAN is now partnering with two additional orphanages in Uganda with hopes to begin matching families soon!  Folks, this is SUPER encouraging as there are only 7 total families in our pilot program and we are number 5!  While we are holding this news loosely as international adoption-well, adoption in general-can change so quickly, we are pretty encouraged by this news!!!!  My husband uses the word encouraged...I prefer EXCITED!!!!

We continue to be prayerful that our little daughter will come home to us soon...thanks again for all of you out there who continue to support & encourage us through your love & prayers...we do feel them!

waiting...an adoption update

Since many of you kindly ask, I thought I would give all our friends and family a quick update regarding our adoption...

No, we have not received the much-anticipated referral yet but we are one family closer to getting our forever daughter and seeing her face for the first time as our agency [Children of All Nations] just matched another family with 2 brothers and thus we move up one more spot.  We began the adoption process in April 2012, completed paperwork by August and thus, we are now in the adoption "holding pattern" of waiting.  I'm not complaining...we are extremely blessed!  Many of you have been praying & blessing us with your love & support and we are overwhelmed by God's provisions and your open generosity.  Lifesong for Orphans provided us with a matching grant and helped us prudently secure support for the anticipated travel costs for 3 of us to Uganda and 4 of us coming back.

  

In terms of an adoption time-line, we are still in the beginning phase with this pilot program but knowing the need is great in Uganda (more than 1/2 of their population is 14 years old and under) and we are 1 of only a handful of families in our agency's Uganda program, means we eagerly anticipate a referral in the coming months...we are highly optimistic but cautiously real.  We pray for patience as God orchestrates the details of us growing our family & giving Haven her much desired playmate.  

Continue to pray & I'll continue to update...we thank you in advance as our journey continues!

adoption update

Many of you have asked [thank you!] about our adoption status & I've been dormant in posting because, well, I was waiting for something to post :)...we have completed the paper chase portion [for now] of our process & have just mailed it off to our agency in Texas for them to look over & send to their Ugandan lawyers to start the match/referral process.  Their aren't many families in our agency Uganda program so that allows my heart to hope excitedly & expectantly...but the realization that foreign countries & placement are a "you just never know" thing, makes me realize we will need to patient.  The referral process will take approximately 6-12 months with travel occurring within 1-2 months after that...trust me, when a referral comes & we accept, I will post!!!

For those of you who have been praying the last 1-2 weeks specifically, we thank you...it seems like about 3.5 months of paperwork is a long time when in fact it is a bit quicker than the average 3-6 months it takes to usually compile the necessary birth/marriage/criminal/home study/medical records needed. State clearances, re-registering by our agency, the state's typo mistake with Arlan's social security number...well, it just adds to the waiting...and the waiting apparently [according to my friend Megan] is going to make me stronger :)

So we now will place our timing, our travels...our little Miller daughter into God's most impeccable time table.
Thank you for your prayers!