Vacation and Parades

We got away for a couple days to Colorado Springs. It is one of our favorite places to go. A beautiful view everywhere you look. The kids loved the cliff dwellings and the Denver aquarium. However, they hated Elitch Gardens. $175 down the tubes as they rode three rides and hated every minute of it. Definitely haven't birthed adrenaline junkies!!

When we returned home, Bethany was in a parade along with the other locals girls that were in Miss Kansas.

Brooklyn approached us with the desire to also go to Ethiopia. We asked her to make it a big part of her prayer time for a couple of days and let us know what God said. If she still feels led to go, we are asking her to believe and have the faith for her own ticket as we are Bethany. We will see what God leads us to do. We would never want to hinder an opportunity in her life. It would be very hard to leave Caleb home alone, but we will just see how God directs us.

Yesterday, I realized with warm comfort, that I will be 53 when Julianna graduates from high school. This sounds wonderful to me...to have kids around well into my grandmother years! We also realized that in four short months, we could very well be traveling to get our kids. Each time one of our friends travels and we hear their story, the anticipation rises. Just like a mother in her ninth month, we feel so ready to get them here. The waiting is getting harder. When they get home, it will have been 15 months of waiting for Joshua. That is a LONG pregnancy!!

Thank you for praying for us and for our children. We are so touched by how many already love them. At this moment, they have no idea how many are pulling for them. Some of the kids in our children's ministry pray for them faithfully every night. It will be a great testimony to all of them to see them come home.

Julianna is doing better and seems to be over her malaria. Thank you for praying for our children's health. We are paying our car off and will be looking for large vehicle of some kind. God is an awesome Provider..we are amazed at how He continues to give us everything we need.

Be blessed! We love you all! Walk dangerously surrendered!

BTW...if anyone knows how to put pictures on blogspot in a nicer format....I don't know how to place them within the post in an organized way!!

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

A message delivered for our Joshua!

We have been blessed beyond words with some of the most precious friends through this adoption. They are other parents adopting from Ethiopia and we all network and pray for each other and walk with each other through this journey via a web board. We have never met these people in person, but they are some of the most treasured friendships we have! We understand this unique journey and calling. We laugh together, compare notes, cry over losses and frustrations, and challenge each other to press on through the Word of God. Several of these amazing people have even supported our adoption by sending money...people in need themselves of funds to adopt and having never laid eyes on us, yet they give. They are some of the most inspiring, surrendered people we know. Our love and admiration for these families runs deep... many of them returning more than once to adopt orphans from other countries, many of them starting over with children after being grandparents, and almost all of them, like us, not the wealthiest people in the world. They are living in the faith zone and God moves in miraculous ways to provide for them to open their homes to these incredible children. It's never easy. Some of them find themselves in very difficult situations when they get their children home, ranging from unexpected illness in their children, to attachment issues, to financial tensions. Nevertheless, they willingly surrender to the call to care for the orphan. As one of them has declared..."My life is not my own". How blessed we are to know these amazing warriors in the Kingdom of God.

One of these precious people is now in Ethiopia, picking up her children, ending one journey and beginning a new one. She made the effort to see our Joshua and this is what she reported to us today. It touched us deeply and gave us great peace in a day that was a bit sad as we heard of Julianna's malaria. God is such a great Father, reassuring us He has a plan that we will look back on and marvel at. This was the message we got (we were all discussing pouting in children):

"JoLynn, this is where you are in trouble! Joshua is so darn adorable that you won't be able to say "no" to his pout! I found him and bent down to hug him. He looked at me with his huge brown eyes and then stuck out his hand for me to shake. I asked a Nanny to tell him that I knew his Mommy and that she loved him, which they happily did. He was watching a worship video. I knew you'd like that!"

What an amazing gift!! These friends that go before us to get their children and love on ours become like aunts and uncles. Words cannot describe how deeply we love these families. We cannot wait to go get our children and then have our turn to love on the ones waiting, telling them how much their new mommies and daddies love them. It's a process of bonding that takes place before the child is united with their parents. To all our adopting friends....how we LOVE you! Thank you to all of you who have prayed for our adoption and our children and our finances. We are praying for you! Don't grow weary, our dear friends...the road is long and hard, and it literally takes fighting with the devil to get these children home. Satan hates adoption...it too clearly represents God heart for us. We've got your backs in prayer. Stay dangerously surrendered!!

Thank you all who are praying for Joshua and Julianna! We are working hard on Julianna's dossier. Praying that she can be moved to the Care Center soon.

Love
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

Prayer for Julianna...

We are needing prayer for Julianna. She has been sick with malaria. Please be praying for her total healing and restoration and for God to comfort her. She doesn't have her mommy and it breaks our hearts to think of her sick without a mommy with her. Please be in prayer that we get the last $5500 for Julianna's fees and her dossier finished so she can be moved to the Care Center and get better medical care.

We know God is completely in love with the orphan. He sees everything Julianna is going through. Thank you for calling on Him to move on her behalf.

Blessings,
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

Finally a court date!!!

Our prayers have been answered and today we heard that on September 30th, our case for Joshua will be brought before an judge in Addis Ababa!! We are thrilled to have a date to look toward. If Joshua becomes a Coleman on that day, we will travel on November 1st. This seems far away, but God is truly orchestrating this process. We now are racing like mad to get the paperwork done for Julianna and get her fees in to try to coordinate her court date with Joshua's so that we can travel once and bring both children home together. This would be absolutely wonderful...to bring both our children home in November.

So, this is how you can pray...

~We need favor and quick moving paperwork as we prepare a second dossier for Julianna. The sooner we get that in, the sooner she can be moved and prepared for court during the coming months.

~We are believing God for $5500 for the remainder of Julianna's fees. Getting this amount in will ensure her quick movement through the process.

~We will then start again raising money for our travel....about $12,000 or so. We have two grants applications out and are praying for provision. God has been so faithful up to this point. We look forward to seeing how He will provide for the second half of this journey.

~We are continuing to lift up Julianna and her health and well being. Pray for Joshua's heart to be strong as he has waited a very long time for his family. By the time we get him home in November, he will have been waiting for family for a year and a half.

~We are still in prayer about an 8 passenger vehicle. Our car is now paid off, so we are just praying for wisdom and guidance in buying a van or SUV.

Thank you for praying! What a wild journey! Thank you for hanging in there with us during this long process. We've almost been in this process a year now. It's been long and hard, but we are so thankful for you who have not given up on us and our children. Thank you for asking about them, for praying for them, for believing in the call of God to care for the orphan, and for supporting us financially. Very soon, you will be able to see the fruit of those gifts as two precious children are no longer orphans, but adopted into our family, forever to be part of our hearts.

Joshua and Julianna, half a globe away, have no idea how many people already love them and pray for them. What a blessing they will be to us!!

Jumping for joy!
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn

Precious Baby Girl!!

We got the information on the beautiful baby girl that could very well become our daughter...our Julianna Kay. She is around 15 months old and very tiny...only 20 pounds. Her big, brown chocolate eyes melt your heart!

We had already heard from God on this child and sent the acceptance letter immediately. We are beyond excited to be able to bring her home hopefully by the end of the year.

We also got word today that they are doing all they can to get Joshua's court date scheduled before closings. If it is successful that will mean we travel in late August! At that time, we will be able to see and spend time with our daughter, but won't be able to bring her home. Talk about heart break!! However, it will also mean we can bring her home later in the year on a different kind of visa that makes her an immediate US citizen and saves us money on readoption.

We are trusting God to work this out according to His best plan. What a wild journey so far!

Prayer needs at this point in our journey:

Joshua's Court Date: We need God to give us favor with the judge, approving our paperwork and making Joshua legally ours this month.

Travel Plans: 5 weeks after a successful court date, you travel for your embassy date. We have an unbelievable amount to purchase and prepare for and pack during that 5 week period. We need favor and provision and an organized plan.

Health and paperwork for Julianna: We will have to prepare another original dossier for Julianna if the two kids have separate court dates. That is alot of leg work! Pray for this process to move quickly. Pray for Julianna's health in the orphanage. She is small, but healthy at this point. All of her medicals look great at this point. Pray for God's hand of protection over her life as she waits.

Finances: Always the big issue in international adoption! We have alot to believe for! We are profiled on Legacy Child's website, a grant ministry for parents who have lost a child and give toward a child's adoption in memory of the child they lost. Pray that anyone visiting that site and interested in giving would be drawn to our profile. We are looking for some other grant companies to apply to. Specifically, we need about $8500 for our travel to get Joshua. We need $10,500 for Julianna's fees and then eventually at the end of the year, travel money to get her. Only one of us might travel to get Julianna...probably JoLynn.

These prayer needs in addition to what we are already praying for are what we are asking you to pray about. We are so thankful for your prayers and support for this amazing journey toward changing two children's lives.

We speak favor and blessing and protection over each of your lives. Receive the mighty touch of an awesome God!!

Pastor Kurt and JoLynn Coleman

The letter has been sent!

We got news today that the letter has been sent from Joshua's home town to the capital city, declaring him deserted. Its unsure if they will get our case into court before closings at the end of July, early August, but we aren't at all worried about it as we know God will get us into court when it's time. If we are to bring Joshua home before Julianna, perhaps we will get a court date before closings. If we are to bring them home together, it will probably be delayed. Either way, we are at peace and have finally learned to trust God fully through this process.

Thank you for keeping our son and daughter in your prayers today. We held and loved on a 3 month old baby boy today and my heart was whisked to Ethiopia...to an orphanage where a baby girl is waiting to be referred to us. We have never met her, don't know if she will be ours yet, but we love her anyway. It's amazing how large the heart can grow in this journey, loving someone you know nothing about. We anxiously await God's plan to unfold and to someday soon have two more beautiful children in our home.

Thank you for praying!! Funds continue to come in slowly. We will need God to move in a mighty way as we draw closer to travel. He is an amazing Provider and we will all know it was Him and Him alone who brought this miracle when it comes about.

Don't be afraid to trust God with your every need. He calls us to God-sized assignments so that when we come through to the other side, it will be clear that it was a God-sized miracle that got us there!

Blessings to you all,
Pastor Kurt and JoLynn