What FAITH can do!!

I could not find ANY way to bring this song by Kutless into my playlist to play on the blog, so you have to click play to hear it. Oh, my, what a song!! These adoptions are a true manifestation of what faith CAN do. Listen and enjoy!

Mary

Happy GLORIOUS Thanksgiving!

It truly is a glorious Thanksgiving - it will long be remembered as the 2009 Thanksgiving of Miracles. God has clearly shown His hand in ALL of this and I simply want to say, "thank you Father!" Thank you that, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly". Thank you that YOU have promised, "I will NOT leave you orphaned"!! Thank you Lord for "placing the lonely and fatherless in families". You have promised to always stand for the fatherless and YOU HAVE!! Thank you for the family you have blessed us with! Thank you that you have drawn them to yourself and already five of our seven children KNOW you as Savior! Thank you, Lord, that Jeremy just said the other day, "just how DO you get saved?"!!!! Thank you, Father, that you never change - that YOU are the same God of Abraham, Joseph, Gideon, Elijah - that You still are a God of miracles!! Thank you that this country/world can never get too technologically advanced to still not NEED You and your miracles. Thank you for the adjudication of yesterday ... I just love that word ..adjudication! Ya know that is what God does for us in Jesus ... He adjudicates us from being a total rotten sinner without hope into a child of the King with an unfathomable inheritance!

Have a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!! Thank you for heeding His call to give your tiny loaves and fishes and EXPECTING a miracle!! Thank you for stepping in the Jordan with us and WATCHING the waters part so we could walk across on dry land! Wow, that is all I can say, just Wow!

Mary

I800 processed and preapproved!!

Wow!! Have I had a looooong day so far ..... but it was all worth it. We are past the next step and rec'd I800 provisional approval ----- super fantastic caseworker, thank you, thank you ---- and our file has now been moved on to National Visa Center!!!

Praise you Father!!

Mary

Ready for some GOOD news?

What a roller coaster ride this has been. Too many stories and hoops that I've encountered today, but the end result is this: our file has LEFT Texas!!! and is being overnighted to Missouri!! Hopefully our caseworker can do the adjudication (impressed by my big fancy words?) of the I800 tomorrow .... hopefully before 1pm so it can go out fedex to New Hampshire. Once there, all the rest can be done electronically!! So maybe, just maybe the Lord God Almighty will be answering this prayer even EARLIER than we hoped!! As Linny would say "Yippee Jesus!!"

Speaking of God - listen to this!! Dick Graham, a sick em Great Dane if there ever was one, is in contact with the supposed 'top gal' with this division in the CIS - he tells her that many people have been praying about this, to which Cheryl says, " we have named this file "the reverend file" because we are ALL praying for it!" Talk about God grabbing the glory all across the board! What a testimony this one is!

Thank you all for your prayers, encouraging words and your heart deep love for the orphan ... cause there are two more coming home soon!!

In His strength and mercy alone,
Mary

Still in need of PRAYER

PLEASE would you all stop right now and pray about LuShi - I am finding out this morning that the CIS in TX may not be able to "log it in, take the money and send it on to CIS MO today" that may be too much to do all in one day. : / of course I don't walk in their shoes, so perhaps it truly is a bigger job than I am portraying.

And then it has to go to MO .... Texas won't fedex it to MO... not "policy" even if I give my acct # and pay for it!! IF it was to somehow be completed TODAY and sent snail mail and actually reached MO tomorrow.... well my very helpful (truly no sarcasm cuz she is doing ALL she can) CIS worker said if she couldn't do all the work on it and get it out via Fedex by 1pm..... it will have to sit on her desk and wait to go fedex on FRIDAY!! But couldn't someone take it to a fedex center,,, no not policy..... it has to go out through the mailroom .... could I have someone pick it up if it gets done after 1pm from the mailroom and take it to fedex (I KNOW the adoption community - there HAS to be someone close to Lewisville, MO who would do that for Lushi) .... no that is against policy. Then she remarked "I can't believe if you are this far into the adoption that China can't give you an extension" ....... ummmm cuz it's not just "policy" it is LAW!!!!

Then it still has to go to New Hampshire - the National Visa Center .... it CAN be fedexed to them - the NCV has to scan it over to Guangzhou.....and my agency gets the preapproved I800 to fedex to GZ so they can meet up and stil be handled by the GZ consolute who then has to issue the Article 5. Ya know only in America .... does a file go to Texas to get the money out, then go to Missouri to do the actually work/approval on it, then have to go to New Hamshire to actually be scanned in and sent to GZ.

Now please if anyone knows, can you tell me how the HAGUE has made adoption so much BETTER?? So sorry for my frustration showing .... I knew this was impossible to start with - THAT is why I said to the Lord, "if YOU want Lushi in our family, You can do it!" And then when man has a totally impossible situation and it DOES work out ..... only God gets the glory and praise. I, for one, would really love to give that praise and glory to God on 12/12/09.

In His strength and mercy alone,

Mary

Nothing yet

Sorry, bloggy followers for not posting for 2 days, but there has been no overt action to report. Except that many are in prayer and some are fasting for this to resolve. Our I800 application is in Texas and they have been contacted by our Senator Grassley's office and by someone high up in CIS to "move it, move it" however they can. I am anxiously waiting for some news of that file hitting Missouri today ... our caseworker is off Friday as well as Thursday and needs to clear/approve it by TOMORROW.

I am setting up flight plans - for those who were offering sky miles we found out definitively last night that for just my flight we would need 165,000 miles and we don't - not even close. There is still one option left for the flights, but we won't find out until next week about that one. But truly, with the giving that has occurred we can still pay for the tickets .... it would just be frugal to do what we can without the cold hard cash.

I hope today I can shout His praises again .... but wait - even in the midst of the storm and NO answers I can still shout His praises for He is STILL God and one who has stepped out from His expanse to come down and draw us back into our His life through the blood and person of Christ! Praise God!!

In His strength and mercy alone,
Mary

Why Wouldn't I?

People often ask and many other probably only "think it" .... why are you adopting, AGAIN??? View this video - the answer is obvious, "why wouldn't I?"

God's hand again!

Dear friends,

Since I would be traveling ALONE to pick up these two older children, our agency director was very concerned. She realized the need these older children have in being understood and having a guide with us as much as possible to translate for them. She thought she could arrange that in Shanxi for LuShi but was not sure about when we traveled to Jiangxi to get Christina ... having two of them ... she was very concerned that we would need more guide help.

I told her that I have a friend in China who was our very first guide when we adopted Juliana ( who is also a believer!!) and that she was still registered to be a guide .... but after ALL that CAWLI is doing for us, I did not want to say "I don't want your guides" .... Lillian quickly said "Call her! Get her to book everything for you in China - would be much better for you and will cost less". So I emailed my friend while she was sleeping and waited.

She was so excited to say YES ... my dh, John, connected us up via Jaja phone and we giggled like schoolgirls!! She is going to book EVERYTHING for us - planes, trains and automobiles ... no wait that's a movie ... planes, hotels and appts!! AND she will be my travel companion the WHOLE time - right in the room with us every minute!! While we were talking I mentioned that we would be hitting GZ just prior to Christmas (if the timing and miracles continue) and could get the medical done on Christmas day ... she got very quiet and I said, "you did realize we will be there over Christmas?" She screamed,"that's right." I thought she may want to back out, but she laughed and said how fun it would be to spend Christmas with us!! What a sister in Christ .... from the "ends of the earth" together to celebrate His glorious birth!! Thank you, dear Angela ..... she is also the angel that helped me find DuJie - ain't God something!!?? Making these plans by having she and I meet over 5 yrs ago?!!

So I want you to again praise God for His bountiful provision and yet still be in deep intercession for the upcoming week. CIS must be expedient for this to work out and my Senator's office said they have done all that they can do. It is purely God's hand that needs to move and get that application package of papers from TX to MO so our caseworker can complete the process stateside.

So, like Esther before the planned destruction of the Jews asked of her people, "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for 3 days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do". I am not asking you to fast for 3 days and not to eat OR drink for that long, but please be in deep prayer for God's hand to move and grant LuShi a family, a home and the medical care he needs to perhaps heal him of this nearly 14 year involuntary flow .... which brings to mind the healing of the woman with the 12 yr hemorrage.... I will be fasting from food today and probably Monday - if any of you are of the persuasion to truly go before God and seek him with a fast - I would be so very thankful! The last time I fasted for another person, was the same day the Lord gave me the Word of Ps 127 that "He would supply for His loved ones, even in their sleep" when I also was praying for the deep financial concerns of our upcoming adoption.


In His strength and mercy alone and humbled in His presence,
Mary

Continued prayers

As I was thanking the Lord this morning for the incredible miracles He has provided, He whispered caution in my ear. We are still not sure what given name we want for LuShi, but I wanted one of the OT men that, through the miracles of God, "beat the odds" - David against Goliath, Joseph against his brothers and Pharoah's wife, Gideon against the army that outnumbered him so terribly or Elijah against the prophets of Baal. God was whispering to not be frightened after this present miracle because another "jezebel" may be right on it's heels. To NOT be afraid of the odds or the chances, but to face it head on like the other "impossibilities" that were already conquered this week.

Please, please continue to pray because the I800 is still in transit along with the Article 16 to go to Texas' "lockbox" where it was relayed to me by my Senator's office:

I talked to the Texas Service Center yesterday and was told that they have Contractors that input the I800 petitions at the lockbox. They are given 14 days to get the application back to the Missouri Service Center.


We do NOT have that much time - in NO way, shape or form. God knows that - but please go to Him in full FAITH that He has the ability to work His perfect will .... whatever that may be. I will be asking for a turn around time so fast that it will grant our I800 approval by Wednesday of next week .... because next week is Thanksgiving and things stop on holidays. And I'm not sure how many of the workers will even be off on Friday - so let them do the work before they take holiday.

Because then that will give the Consolate in Guangzhou only a week to turn it all around and issue the Article 5.

That all sounds incredibly impossible BUT so did everything else that transpired so far this week!

Thank you for your continued support, your notes of encouragement and especially your prayers.

The two new pix - one of an "older Lushi" even though it is still a year old!! And a new one of Christina someone took on a visit there recently.

Mary

2 LOA's overnight!!!!

My wake up email today from my caseworker from CAWLI:

By the way - good news!
2 LOA's for you today!

The director faxed the I800A approval last night to 3 different CCAA directors but it was our Lord that moved their hand. I could NOT stay in my desk chair, but literally had to fall on my face before our Heavenly Father and tremble in awe!!

Can you even begin to imagine what plans God has for the future of these children???

Please start to pray for God's huge hedge of protection on our travel, on our and the children's health, on ANYTHING the adversarial prince and power of the air might try to throw in our path ... of course I firmly believe this adversary has to first ASK permission before the Throne to do so ...... so if God is for us WHO can be against us??

If you are NOT a firm believer in the saving power of Jesus PLEASE see this as a testimony of what He WILL do for the sake of His children ..... and then read Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ, the Gospel of John and the book of Romans.


In His strength and mercy alone and humbled in His presence,

Mary

God didn't want to STOP

I thought by me telling you all to stop that you all would do so ..... well we don't EVER tell God what to do!!! I rec'd another phone call this morning from Lifesong and they have provided a matching grant of $2500 for us .... that means if we raise $2500, they will match it with another $2500. I told them what happened last night and they said the choice was up to me .... we will spare the larger funding group the extra expense and have Lifesong help us out. So IF you were going to send a check to Shepherd's Crook for tax sheltering, you can now send it to Lifesong directly and they will match it for our adoption. Send it to -

Lifesong for Orphans
POB 40
202 N. Ford Str
Gridley, IL 61744

Please indicate “Kamberger 1083 Adoption” in the memo section.

I still have to get back to the BJRAAF (long named funding group) to tell them exactly what we will need to complete the adoption.

AND then GOD still moved even MORE!!!

WE WERE APPROVED FOR OUR I800A

..... exactly 24hrs from our fingerprinting!!! God is sooooo good!!

Now I have to fill out yet more paperwork!

Praising Him for his abundant blessings!!!

Mary

STOP GIVING!

I did NOT think I would EVER say those words!! But I have - stop giving - "uncle" - we can't handle anymore!! The MIRACLE has been realized!!

To ALL of you who deeply care for the orphan -

The Lord has granted us miracle after miracle over the last 2 days. By the hands of His people - many of you have given, agencies and individuals alike. I would like to give praise to God and Him alone for the wondrous work He has done on behalf of the fatherless - those He greatly desires to place in homes.

We have been given:

over $6000 between our chip in and Kelly R's purse fundraiser
a Love Without Boundaries grant of $3000
a Grant Me a Chance grant of $1000
a $13,000 NO interest loan from a private donor and a $6000 grant from a private donor.

Totalling $29,000!!!!!!!!!!! PLUS donations via Shepherd's Crook tax ded fund of an unknown amount.

All in less than 2 days ...... I think I can now safely say ..... STOP...... we have enough!!

And I want to add that all the grants and loan were by individuals who called or emailed ME - not I to them. On my first post on this blog I mentioned that the Lord had given me Ps 127 as the verse to hold onto : "He provides for his loved ones even in their sleep, children are a GIFT from Him" - He was assuring me way back then that HE would supply and He has done so with abundance!!!

THANK YOU from the Kambergers, especially from DuJie and LuShi who will soon be part of their forever family because of the help of givers like yourselves.

Please continue to uphold us in prayer as we continue with the paperwork - we still have many hurdles to cross on the way to bring these children home.

In HIS strength and mercy alone,

Mary and John

Tax sheltered giving

Several individuals have asked if there is a place to donate funds for our adoption needs to a nonprofit organization where their donation will be tax deductible. We now have a place to do that. Shepherd's Crook has gone out of their way to make this available due to their relationship with Richard and Cheryl Graham of IAAP {these are the original people who advocated for LuShi and were also the ones we adopted Nathan through}. If you desire to donate in a tax deductible fashion Shepherd's Crook has set up a beneficiary account in the name of LuShi Kamberger. Please just direct anyone interested in helping to send their tax-deductible donations to

The Shepherd's Crook Ministries
P.O. Box 773
West Chester,OH 45071

and make sure to indicate that the donation is for "LuShi Kamberger."

Thank you all so very much for your help in our time of need!
Mary and John

10:30pm GOOD NEWS last night

Okay, last night as I was literally exhausted emotionally and mentally, I read an email from Anne Little (sweet southern belle that she is) that said "I have a secret, but I want to call you ... what's you number?" I responded with my # and waited ... and waited .... and finally decided I better get these littles in bed if she is not gonna call me! I bedded down 3 of them and then had my "snuggle night" with Nathan - each evening one of them gets Mommy all to themselves after the others go to bed. After Nate went to bed, I came downstairs and was wondering why Anne STILL hadn't called but then saw another email saying "get off the phone!! I want to talk with you and your phone is busy!" So I quick checked all the phones and sure enough one was acting funky. I started my email back to Anne when she called and said, "are you sitting down?" Then told me that Love Without Boundaries has granted us $3000!!!!!! WOW, oh, WOW! AND then I opened another email from Holly Brooke saying that Grant Me a Chance is giving us $1000!! Praise GOD!

Blessings!
Mary

Fingerprints are DONE

One more step in the right direction. We were fingerprinted today down in Des Moines. Now we wait for the prints to clear and be sent to the Hague unit in Missouri - then we will receive approval for our I800A and on to the next step. We will be waiting for China to review our dossier and issue us an LOA/LOC which basicly asks us "do you STILL want to adopt these children?" ..... hmmmm, let me think .....YES!! Then it the LOA along with MORE paperwork which I will begin to fill out TODAY will be sent back to the Hague unit in Missouri where we HOPE it will move along at the same incredible speed with which it has already!! I have two more WONDERFUL things to share .... well actually three, but they deserve their own personal "titles".

In HIS strength and mercy alone,
Mary

The adoption community is FANTASTIC!!

WOW - that's all I can say is WOW and I'll even say it backwards ... WOW! You guys are so great! God is good ... all the time, but when He works a miracle through the hands of His people He is fantabulous!! Ya know Jesus could of whipped up food to feed the 5000 in thin air, but He chose to use the offerings of a young boy - his little loaves and fishes and THEN He worked the miracle! Well He's doing it again!

Let me tell you what else God is doing. I emailed our Senator's office over the weekend in hopes they could help move CIS who said on Friday that our paperwork would have to be done in the order it was received. Now to all you adoptive families out there ... I KNOW you because I am one of you and if there is a family behind you in line that honestly HAS to move up and take "cutsies" you all would step graciously out of the way knowing that THIS is the only chance for this particular child to have a family!! Well, I rec'd a call at 8:40 this morning from a different CIS caseworker who said she was reviewing my file. I said, but I thought so and so was doing it ..... she said not since Sen Grassley's office advocated for you! Praise you, LORD!! She has reviewed our file completely, faxed us our fingerprint appt papers and we will be fingerprinted tomorrow in Des Moines!! She also said she did not think that this would ever be able to go through by the middle of December. I sweetly thanked her for trying her best non-the-less and that we appreciated her efforts!! Cause if God is moving everyone better just get out of the way!

A woman I didn't even know emailed me and then we chatted on the phone - she was a huge encouragement to me. She relayed how this same situation just happened over a month ago and the family is still in China bringing home another dear 14 year old boy who NOW has a family to call his own. Can I get a whoop, whoop!!??!! This lovely woman said she had no doubt this would be going through and to advocate for help on another yahoo group I used to be on .... well, I went to that group and guess what!? There are folks over there already advocating for me, my family and dear LuShi - folks that don't know me from Eve (thought I was gonna say Adam didnt't ya?). Blessed my socks off!

Look at that chip in folks - it's from folks like you who have given 10, 20, 50, 100 and some even more for LuShi to come home!! Thank you - thank you - thank you!!

In HIS strength and mercy ALONE,
Mary

We desire to give LuShi a home! SECOND PA!

Two weeks ago, on October 30, Dick and Cheryl Graham with Bringing Hope to Children advocated for a boy rapidly approaching his 14th birthday. We have been in process to adopt Christina DuJie since August and had just recently sent in our I800A after an extended wait for our Home Study. I don't usually open these emails, but was moved to see what the situation was. The moving has not stopped.

We are now PreApproved to adopt Zhang LuShi in addition to DuJie and are trying desperately to give this child a home. His 14th birthday is December 12th .... just 4 short weeks away!! China is willing to do whatever it takes to get this child a family. Our agency, CAWLI, is doing everything THEY can to expedite this process. And we see days flying by with little to no time to raise the money needed to bring these children home or give USCIS the time to process our case.

I am asking for TWO things from this fantastic adoptive community:

First - PRAY for God's will to be accomplished - if He is pleased to place LuShi in our home, then He can pave the way through this seemingly IMPOSSIBLE short time period to do so. Pray for USCIS to be moved by compassion or whatever it takes to truly push this file through. China is willing to have everything else in fax only and even to let us travel without TA in hand.

Second - help us is ANY way feasible and within your power to get to China and give this boy a chance. There is a chipin right here on this blog and a purse fundraiser (done by the lovely Kelly R!) at http://www.hopeandhealingfororphans.blogspot.com/ . We could use frequent fly miles to help get us there and back or help with our stay at the hotel. Spread the word to any groups you belong to!

LuShi is from Linfen, Shanxi and has urinary incontinence and was diagnosed to have a tethered spinal cord 2 years ago (tho he has no history of spina bifada). He has only been allowed to go to school the last few years after LWB stepped in to support the cost of adult incontinence pads. There is no surgeon in China that feels skilled enough to do his surgery. He is nearly 14 and I am sure growing like any other 13 year old boy!! That cord could snap at any time, leaving him in a worse place than he is already in.

John and I are willing to do whatever the Lord desires regarding LuShi - we want to give him the opportunity for family, support, love, expert medical care and the chance to be told there is a God who loves him very much. Could you or your coworkers be looking for a great compassionate giving idea for the Christmas season? What a gift this would be for LuShi who has been overlooked for far too long. And what a story to tell him in future days of the support and love of a huge adoption community who KNOW what a true miracle this would be!!