Going back?

Well its official! I'm going back to Ecuador.... like really, I'm going to Ecuador...actually I'm taking my whole family with me and we will gain a new sister while we are there....absolutely unbelievable?

But wait....is it unbelievable? 17 months ago...actually while I was still in Ecuador for the first time, my family started, this wonderful, crazy, hard, rewarding and unbelievable process called adoption. The attempt to come up with a crazy amount of money and spend countless hours doing paperwork... where at the finish we would fly out to bring home a child that we would claim as family.

Basically this process became our life.. the pursuit of bringing home a little girl to become part of our family. But it was quite an impossible endeavor and it took the faith of many.....but I never stopped believing that God would really provide a way for us to make a little Ecuadorian princess part of our family.

Guess what? He has! God has provided over and above what we ever thought possible! He has provided in ways that we never dreamed of, but the truth is the truth and that is that my family and I (7 in total) will be flying out of the country to pick up our baby sister. Excitement is running high in this house.....bags are being packed and last minuet details are being gone over....but we are remembering the one who made all of this possible, because honestly I cannot tell you the amount of times that all of this seemed so impossible!

I grabbed my brother and told him, we are leaving tomorrow, we are going to Ecuador!! He said, I know, this was your dream, and now it it really happening!! This was my dream, a little bit crazy.... seven Velie's going on a plane and leaving the country....look our Ecuador! But wait that mean's that eight Velie's will be coming back and that is even crazier! Because I can't tell you how many times I was told that is was impossible. But guess what it is not impossible, because nothing is impossible for my God.

I really am headed back to Ecuador and despite popular opinion I really don't think it's going to be a vacation...3 whole weeks with my whole family and not one of us going to work....(God send us grace!) that is more family time then I've had...well...ever! Lots of legal appointments, translators, court dates and papers. Trying to keep my family all safe and out of trouble...and not to mention one week into this whole venture I start online classes...but ya, that's right, this was my dream.....

and honestly I wouldn't trade any of it...

God's time and way's are perfect...

now I'm just going to sit back and watch Him keep working!

By the way...I'm going back to Ecuador!! :)

Getting closer....

With great rejoicing, anticipation and thankfulness we announce that our family has been officially assigned to adopt Miss A! The road is not over yet, but we are yet one step closer to bringing this little girl into our lives.

I speak for us all when we say we are so excited to make this little girl part of our family, but I think through this long, heartbreaking process God has taught us to simply see the joy in the journey..... Our crowing joy won't be the day we all meet her and hold her, nor the day she shares our last name, not even the day she come's home..... but we are trusting God that one day we will look back and be able to see how God slowly and carefully took the life of a little girl and redeemed it through the love of a family that He had been preparing for her.

So today we simply say thank you God for this journey and path you have brought us on, because you have done so much in our live and we know that you are not done yet.......

So please continue to pray with us and for us as we start making plans to be in Ecuador, as the details are worked out and as this little girl will soon be introduced to our family through pictures and videos. These may all seem like more little details in this whole process but they are HUGE and we pray that God will be in each one.

It is both scary and exhilarating as we keep moving forward on this journey, from buying clothes and things for Miss A, answering the questions our small nephews, looking forward to what is ahead and enjoying the days that we have left before our family grows.

I'm going to steal from my own Facebook post here....

I can not wait to hold this little girl again and call her sister! Its so exciting to see God working and we are so excited to see what God has in store for her and our family. She will soon become the 9th and youngest Velie child, the 1st adopted sibling and our family will become multi-racial. Praise the Lord!

From Start to Finish

Well I decided it was time to read my blog from start to finish....

    1.   To remind myself of things I may have forgotten
    2.   I thought it might help me as I continue settling back into life, which has been much harder than I had expected.
   3.    I miss everyone so much and I want to walk down the journey again.
   4.    Why not? I put a lot of time and work into it, I plan to read it many times!

I was so amazed as I started reading, I remember each day preparing for my trip! I remember the circumstances and what God was doing in my life. What a fresh reminder!

    I was so excited! I was so ready! I knew exactly what God had for me!

As I read about each day, I can remember it so distinctly....it seems like yesterday! Did it really happen half a year ago already? Its so exciting to remember all the little things...but most of all to remember what God was doing in my heart.

This time I get to see
      1. How I slowly became best friends with Natasha
      2. How and When I fell in love with the precious little ones
      3. When we became such wonderful friends with the tias
      4. How much each person I met there impacted me

I love looking back and being reminded of God's faithfulness, all the lessons He taught me there and what a blessing to look back and be reminded.

I can remember the joys and triumphs, and the sorrows and heartache's. The embarrassing moments and the teachable moments.

As I read through these blog posts and see all the spelling errors, I have to laugh! Why didn't I see some of these as I was typing?? I guess I was just caught up in the memories and trying to put them on paper...and most of the time I was hurrying so I could get to bed...and well....English was never my strong point in school. But I'm thankful that God can be glorified even through our mistakes.

I find myself laughing and my jaw dropping open at times thinking...I forgot about that! Even now I'm wishing I had a can of espuma and was standing on Natasha's doorstep!

---------------------------------------------

Well I started this blog post over half a year ago, but decided I would share it with you anyway. I have so enjoyed reading my blog, each day brings me right back to all the memories and exactly how it felt to be there. It was an amazing and life changing journey. I can't believe it has now been over a year since I was in Ecuador. In some way's it seems like yesterday and in other way's it seems longer. All I know is it was one of the most worth while things I have ever done! I'm so thankful that God took me there and allowed me to experience life there. But I'm also thankful for this past year and its ups and downs as God continues to take me on this journey of faith.

This past year has been a busy one! My family is still working on adopting (I'm sure there will be more on that later), I have completed my Freshmen year at Liberty University Online, God blessed me with a wonderful job at the local hospital working as a CNA (which I love!!), I totaled my car and bought one pretty much exactly like it (if you didn't know, you wouldn't be able to tell I am driving a different one!), we have had two beautiful nieces born into the family and I'm sure there is more they just won't enter my brain right now.....

So yes, I have been very busy, thus no blog posts but I am hoping to be able to write a bit at least over the summer.. God bless you all and again thank you to everyone who has been apart of life and part of my continued journey of faith.

Abortion at it's best!

The fight for life goes on....

Yes, I have been reading blog posts and felt compelled to share them with you.

The best way for your heart to be broken over the lost lives is to see it and share in the horror they experience. Please take the time to read these and share! But most of all continue to pray that the slaughtering of life will cease.


This is my positive abortion story! | The Matt Walsh Blog


Making the Tragedy of Abortion Personal - Abort 73.com


19 facts about abortion in America

My hearts desire...

Funny how a year ago I was preparing for an adventure of a lifetime!! I was exciting and everything in my life changed as I prepared to leave everything behind and head with God to Ecuador to discover what God had for me there. It was a different world, but somehow my heart had felt at home there in a way that I know only God could make possible. I fell in love and God changed my life so completely. But sadly it didn't last forever I had to return and discover how God wanted my experiences there to effect my life here. Well I had to leave all of the children behind, but they are never far from my heart.

There are over 153 billion orphans around the world and somehow they have all ended up in my heart.

But I also feel the pain of the poor...the truly poor, that few North Americans can comprehend and I feel the agony of the trafficked and sold girls like never before....and a love for people around the world as never before.

I still am discovering just exactly how God is going to use all of these in my life but for now He has given me the privilege of feeling their pain far deeper than before and praying more fervently for them.

This year I am preparing for another adventure, one that will change my life forever again, when God willing we bring home a little girl that will forever be our youngest sister. Something we had not even considered a year ago.

So I want to share with you, I want you to see their needs, their pain and remember that it could be you... your children, or anyone you know. They didn't choose this, but the needs are just the same...

I have never met these children but the needs are the same around the world....

I'm no great speaker, but I had to do a persuasive speech for school and what else could I have possibly tried to persuade people to do...but take up the cause of the fatherless and helpless. 

My hearts desire is to see them rescued and redeemed.

Will you join me? I promise it will be the adventure of a lifetime! It will change you forever....

but you won't regret it.

Reflecting on 2013

Wow, I can't believe its already the very end of 2013. It has been one of the best and hardest years of my life. It has presented some of the biggest challenges but I have seen some of the greatest miracles. I think as every year draws to a close I have the tenancy to think.... this was the best year! Because no matter what happens in that year I can always see God's faithfulness and goodness. I realize that all the steps I take each and everyday contributes to the person I will be tomorrow, so no matter how easy or hard the step may be, God has a purpose and He is working in my heart and life and continues to draw me and change me and I don't ever want to go back... Time is short, life is fleeting. In many ways my life looks like its only beginning but then I know that tomorrow is promised to no man, so make today count. It could be your last. Will you be ready to meet your Maker if you die tonight? Are you ready to stand before God? Jesus Christ came to give us life, eternal life. He gave His life for us, so the very least we can do is spend our life for Him!? In a day where technology and social life bombards us on every side I so often stop and realize that I'm not being purposeful about making my life count for eternity. This life shall soon pass, only what is done for Christ shall last. God is so good and I'm so thankful for His faithfulness to me as I walk from day to day, I have had some pretty big things happen this year.... My first trip out of the the country, meeting some really amazing people and developing some amazing friendships, embarking on an adoption journey with my family, starting my first year of college and last but not least.... flipping my car... In each instance I can see Gods hand leading and guiding....He has a purpose, He has a plan. He changed my heart and life in Ecuador, He gave my friends and acquaintances that share my passions and desires, He has proven over and over again that He is the God of the impossible, He has changed my family and many others forever, He has proven that He ways and timing are perfect, He will provide the means and strength for His will to be accomplished and more often than not in ways I would have never believed possible! He certainly has kept me safe and well through it all and I hope and pray that my life will be testimony of His goodness and faithfulness.

I'm so humbled and deeply grateful that God would choose me to walk the path that He has placed me on, its so much more than I deserve. He has taken a sinful wretch and blessed me beyond compare. I'm thankful for each person that has touched my life this year, I know that so many have prayed for me and my family and I can never thank you enough because God has and is answering those prayers. I'm looking forward to 2014 and everything that God has in store. May the end of another year be a reminder to all of us that our time is shorter, life is a gift, use it wisely.

I have so enjoyed reading the year end emails and videos from different ministry's. I need the reminder that there is still more work to be done, I need to remember how blessed I am and how much for thankful I aught to be, I need to be reminded that God is working, souls are being saved, lives are being changed! As I have been challenged and blessed by these video updates I wanted to share a few videos with you...

Many of you will probably remember this orphanage that Natasha and I visited in the jungle...

Casa De Fe

It so amazing to be able to continue to see the work going on in these places knowing that God has not forsaken them!

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 1 Corinthians 9:24

Lets be purposeful, no excuses, confess, believe and run on....

ME

So this is me!

somehow this picture is just me!

I'm not sure why, but when I look at it, I just laugh and think....Yep!

I'm not sure if its the hair...the lack of sleep...trying not to blink...or wondering if my sister will stop making me pose...but whatever it is...it pretty well sums me up...this is me!