The Waiting...

"Moments of great calm,

Kneeling before an altar

Of wood in a stone church

In summer, waiting for the God

to speak; the air a staircase

For silence; the sun's light

Ringing me, as though I acted

A great role. And the audiences

Still; all that close throng

Of spirits waiting, as I,

For the message.

Prompt me, God;

But not yet. When I speak,

Though it be you who speak

Through me, something is lost.

The meaning is in the waiting."

-R.S. Thomas

I always find myself in a moment of waiting. I am anticipating the next thing, working towards the next goal, looking forward to the next event. Possibly this could be part of my personality, being a goal-driven individual at times; however, I believe God has continually put me in positions of waiting so that I can learn how to wait on Him and not rely on my own doings.

We began the adoption process almost two years ago, but even anticipated this plan for adoption for years prior.
We have had our adoptive child's room ready for a year now (because of the home study process). My children are ready and prepared to have another member of the family.
And now... finally, we are getting closer and closer to reaching that place where we will see our child's sweet face and learn WHO we have been waiting for.
Tick... tock...

We know that our child may be born and that time is ticking away. However, we wait and rest in a stillness (not a frenzied anticipation), knowing that our God is in control and sovereign over everything. His timing is perfect in every circumstance as He orchestrates a beautiful plan before us. We are called to be obedient and to trust in this; never fully understanding the brokenness of this path or the world around us. Time and time again, the Lord told people they had to wait... Mary, Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Noah, the disciples, the prophets... they had to wait years to see things come to pass. They had to hang in the balances not knowing what fully lied ahead. However, they trusted in seeing God's plan unfold and may have waited a lifetime (or on into Heaven) to see why everything occurred the way that it did and why God chose them to wait. But oh, what Glory to finally see some day... why this person was chosen for our family, why we were called to adopt from South Korea, and why we needed to wait on Him this very short time.

So now, we wait expectantly.
                           Expectant to see what our lives hold for years to come and who will be a very special part of our family.

But yet, we wait presently. 
                           We sink deep into Him, allowing Him to teach us a few more things here and there about this great miracle and preparing our hearts in so many ways (that we didn't even know we needed).

Always, we wait eternally.
                            Following this extremely long period of nesting, when our child is finally here, I will continue to wait on God year after year, until my children are grown and I am gray, learning as I go until the fulfillment of all of this present life's waiting comes to pass.

Be still.

"Sometimes the really profound moments of our lives occur 'in between' at that moment just before something happens: truth lurks in the moment between... the paradox is sometimes the fulfillment of that for which we wait robs us of what we were waiting for and that we discover to our surprise that the meaning is in the waiting and not in the fulfillment."

 - The Meaning is in the Waiting

USCIS Approval & Both Hands Fundraising

We received in the mail our approval from USCIS for our I-600A!! Everything is moving forward step by step... now, we wait... In the waiting we will continue to seek God's face on what he will have of us and continue to pray for our birth mom and our child. Our little one could be close to being born or even already be here!

(Image from Google)

We are moving forward with fundraising and have our link to our Both Hands Fundraising Page if you want to stay updated:

https://bothhands.org/project/tyler-281

We are currently in search of a widow to serve. If anyone has a lead on a person, please let us know!

Thank you for all of your support!

Both Hands Kick Off & One Step Closer

We went to Louisville on Wednesday and had our fingerprints and photos taken for USCIS immigration and customs. This is one step closer to approval. This usually means that everything is good with our home study! We also met a sweet family from Louisville that adopted a little girl, Sara, from South Korea and they are now adopting her biological brother, Sam.

Today we had our kick-off meeting for our Both Hands project. We know that it is a busy time a year for everyone and we are so grateful for the people that did come out. We are still looking to recruit more team members and are trying to find a widow. We know that God is going to provide through this project for us to bring our little one home!

For more information on Both Hands and how it works, here is the introductory video!

BOTH HANDS FOUNDER INTRODUCTION

Both Hands Project - APRIL 22, 2017

Friends & Family,

We are excited to announce that we are taking on a Both Hands project SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2017.

We discovered this different kind of adoption fundraiser that has made us believe that we can raise the funds to help cover the rest of our adoption expenses.

If you can sweep, rake, clean windows, paint a wall, stuff envelopes, make phone calls, arrange food, or simply pray… then we need you! With your help, we have a chance, not only to raise the funds necessary to bring our child home, but to also serve a widow, just like it talks about in James 1:27…

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Here’s how it works…Our family finds a widow in need of help around her home. We assemble a team of friends to complete a Both Hands Project. Then the team (including us) sends out letters to family and friends asking them to sponsor us for one day, as we work on the widow’s home.  100% of the funds received will go toward our adoption expenses (it’s just like asking someone to sponsor you for a 5K race or golf scramble). Anything that we raise that goes above and beyond what we NEED will go towards funding another family’s adoption. We will meet multiple needs at one time, give ourselves away to the service of a widow, and possibly show the world what a beautiful and realistic miracle adoption is.

Here is a link to a video that should give you a good idea of what a Both Hands Project is all about.

Here is our request... Would you consider being on our team?  You may be jumping up and down saying “pick me, pick me” or you might have several questions.

 

INFO MEETING:

When: Sunday, December 4, 2016  - 3:00-4:30pm

Where: Our House (let me know if you need our address)

We will serve chili after the meeting for you and your families!

 

Can you make it? Feel free to RSVP at shellyrtyler@gmail.com or send me a private message!

 

Thanks so much for all of your support,

Shelly, John Mark, Grayson & Paxton Tyler

 

     

"My Baby Sister Lives Right Here."

The other day, Grayson painted this beautiful picture. I looked over at him as he was intently painting. 
"Grayson, what are you painting?"
"Mom, this is South Korea. My baby sister lives right here," he said as he pointed to the map he made.
He talks about her like she is here, a part of our family, and he said she loves rice and bananas. Our hearts smile because this is exactly how we want our children to view our adoption process. We don't know who she is, where she lives, or anything about her journey yet... we don't even know exactly that our child is a "her", but we do know that we love this child and are excited to expand our family through adoption.

Even though we have been involved in this process for many years in our hearts and over a year technically in the midst of the papers, we know we have a much longer time to wait. But, in that waiting, we are expectant to find out even more what God has for our family, who Grayson and Paxton are growing to be, what we have to work on as a married couple, and the joys that can be found in the periods of waiting and refinement.

So, where are we in the adoption process? 

Our home study is now complete and approved by both agencies here in Kentucky and in Michigan. We are now filling out immigration paperwork and will go through some more approvals for that. We cannot expect a referral from the agency until at least Spring 2017. But, in the mean time, we hope to continue to plan, read, grow, and work as a family to make sure we are ready for our child who is being knit together specifically to be a part of this.

We ask for your continued prayers and support in the waiting and for all of the things that God is orchestrating in the background that are fulfilling His divine providence in this situation.

More details to come!

Moving Forward

In the midst of all of our life adventures, changes, and happenings, we are blessed to announce that our home study is in its final stages! We are very excited to complete this part of the process. Completion of the home study allows us to move forward with the networking agency we are working with and begin to consider the next steps. We know it will still be a while before our little one is in our arms, but we are moving closer to the possibility.

Korean adoption continues to be an overall complex process to comprehend from our end and we are learning more each and every day.

NEXT STEPS: 

-Submitting our home study to our networking agency in Michigan

-Applying for immigration

-If all goes well, October marks the start of the possibility of a referral

UPDATES: 

-Fundraising continues- Once our home study is complete, we will be sending everything in for a "Both Hands Project" - We hope to complete this project this fall. Go to www.bothhands.com for more info. We need at least 10 people to commit to helping us work on the home of a widow in need of assistance within our community. Overall, it will be a very rewarding project and we would love your help! 

Expectations

We are believing God for his providence to pull through. There are so many unknown factors as we work through the various stages of adopting a little one. It would be easy to expect so many things (good or bad), but truly we have to just rely on Him. He has called us to take a beautiful child into our family and love them all the days of our life. We are not expecting anything but to see God show up. Our social worker posted this photo below on Facebook and my heart leaped with a resounding "amen." We are expectant. Please continue to pray for us during this time.