Waiting for forever

How long does waiting feel?  This picture of Aloizs (Mitchell) was taken a year after being taken away from his mom.  In 2007 he was removed from his home and placed in an orphanage, not knowing what the future held.  How long was the waiting?  Every day not knowing how much longer he had to wait...was she coming back?, did she still love him?, would he see her again? Then the day his mom's rights are terminated, does he understand what that means?  how old was he?  How must that of felt, to know she wasn't coming back, that he wouldn't see her again...Then a new waiting began.  Would he get a new family? would today be the day?  how long would it be before his new family came for him?  ...

...now 6 years later he still waiting for a family...Waiting for forever...Waiting for a family to love must feel like forever, waiting to have a mom to love you...waiting for forever is what it must feel like to a child.  Day in and day out not knowing if that day will ever come.  

Many times He has said he waits every day for me.  I can't imagine how long waiting must be for a child without a family.  Six long years (about 2,190 days) without a family.

Now, he has found a family that loves him.  He is happy and sad everyday.  back waiting for what feels like forever.  He cries because everyday he wants to see his family that he loves again.  He says his dreams have finally come true...he is so close, but yet still waiting, still not very sure what the future holds, but has a glimpse of hope that that day of being loved in a family could finally be just around the corner.

It is so very hard after being with us for 4 weeks to now be separated. a lot of children that have been institutionalized have attachment disorders, and so far with our Mitchell he shows no signs of this, he is very much attached to me and our family.  I hear from him every morning when he gets up at 7:30am (Latvia)  which is 12:30am here in the US.  Usually by 1:08am (8:08am Latvia) He is at school and is at the Library writing me.  and so goes the rest of his day.  He writes me most days all day or at least once an hour every hour.  It starts at 12am for me and then he will go to bed and I stop hearing from him at about 4pm (11pm Latvia)  I am very thankful for every message from him.  I am glad he is able to stay in touch, I don't know what we would do without it.  It is a blessing to be able to communicate so much.  We also talk on the phone every 3 days.  His English is getting very good, and we are able to talk more and more while on the phone.   It is a blessing that I am so grateful for!!

With all of that said you can see why there are never any blogs:)  I am writing him all hours of the day and night...while working diligently on ALL of the adoption papers and running that goes along with it.  Not to mention Ministry, and homeschooling and fund raising... but I miss being able to update everyone.  I want everyone to know I greatly appreciate all of the encouragement from you guys during this journey.  This has not been an easy road to go down.  I get little sleep, my heart is heavy, my mind is full of all the "Adoption detail stuff", and I love my family and try to still be with them and keep up with their schedules.  I hope I live to see him come home:) 

update on where we are in the process.

A few days ago we had what I thought was going to be a big bump in the road and that it would set us back 2-3weeks, I had my moment of a cry on my bed. (which I can't remember the last time I have had one of those)  after my wonderful husband reminding me God is still in control I got up and got back to work on our next set of papers.  With in the next few days...maybe the next day, It all turned around...God is still in control!  We have now jumped ahead in the process with a miracle of having our Home study finished (should have final copy this week), ready for our next application for the US, and on Tuesday we get our final papers for LATVIA notarized and should be ready to head to Raleigh to have them Apostilled with the next week !!  We are very much ahead of the game, God turned it all around.  Praise God for His Greatness, and care for every detail of our life!  We serve a God that nothing is impossible!!

Now that we are ready with these papers, we are at a very expensive stage in the adoption process.  These next documents are very expensive costing $1000s.  with these next few steps we will need around $3000-$4000.  But just with the issues from last week we are believing God for a miracle, because we know He can do the impossible.

If you would like to make a donation, we could use your help right now.  Every amount helps!!  Thank you all for your prayers and support!

To make an online donation you can go to the link below, and designate for Tony and Melanie Bell

Thank you and God Bless each of you!!

https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=581703392&vlrStratCode=Qs5LEJsEjix6r%2fBjarcVS80AkVHBB3nKThmaZxcgBsUXz7ND%2bNAJwjDEuDzCl%2bcf

God is Always on time

      God is Awesome and always right on time, not a minute too early and not a minute too late.  As most of you know we needed $1400 today for our home study.  Well our fund raiser went very well and we were very thankful for everyone that bought our Double love Bouquets for Valentines.  But as of  8am this morning, we were still $500 short.  I went to bed last night without one worry.  Tony and I had peace that it was going to be ok.  That sounds like I am making that up or like that is easy...but in times past I would of been worrying and Tony would of been worrying, but I would of been more verbal about it.  But we really didn't worry we went right to bed and never give it another thought.  I had told Tony that we are being tested, and things will be provided as we show we trust God for every step.  8am came around 2 hours before we need the money...I get a text "did you get all of what you needed?"  I text back no.  9am, 1 hour before the social worker arrives, and we have a check in the mailbox for $500. Praise God for being right on time.  We serve a Big God and He and only He can provide when we trust Him.  I know that this whole journey will be like this, I said it from day one, it will be one step at a time.  When we got to adding  up all of the donations, we were off by $5.  (not much or anything to worry about) and in a matter of seconds, I got a message on my phone that said, "Melanie I just made a donation online for $25 for your adoption"... the timing was amazing.  God is just Awesome!  so we paid what needed to be paid and God started our next hurdle with $20 to start.  
     The Home study was long and full of paperwork, we had everything that was needed to be turned in.  And she give us 4 more things to accomplish this week.  She had originally told us that the Home study would be finished by mid March, today she said she would have it finished to be reviewed by THIS weekend!! one month ahead of schedule!  

     Then Tony and I headed off to the Doctors office to have TB test and blood work etc...for our Physicians report.  Which someone had told us they called a week ago to get an appointment and they didn't get one until April.  I call the end of last week and got one for today.  Can I just say God is just Awesome!  We got everything we needed and the test results should be ready on Thursday.  Dr. Hess is the Best!

     Okay so if that wasn't enough to be the best day ever,  Aloizs sends me a message about a video(Hillsong, lead me to the cross, with Latvian lyrics)  I posted on the Latvian social network called frype, and he said that song made him cry.  He said he loved Jesus.  I said it is beautiful what Jesus did for us on the cross.  He said that Jesus was his savior.  Then he says he is thankful again the God has given him a family. 

     It really has been a great day.  We are Blessed beyond measure, Just that God loves us so much he sent his Son that we might be saved, and every other Blessing is just because He can.  
Matthew 7:11

As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.

What is in a Name?

What is in a Name?

I have often taught or even preached about the importance of a NAME.  Over and over in the Bible we see this to be true.  God names Adam, and he lets Adam name all of the animals.  When we give something a name it shows that it belongs to you.  Adam(man)  had dominion over the animals on the earth, so God shows this by letting Adam name the animals.  We also see over and over where God changes a name of a person to show a new identity, like with Abram to Abraham, Saul to Paul.  We even see King nebuchadnezzar tries to change the name of Daniel to try and change his identity.  This name change wasn't a positive thing but was a way to take away Daniels identity as a child of God's.  With Paul his name change was a away to put away old ways and to start a fresh new ministry for His new found Savior, Jesus.  There is a great meaning behind a name.  We name our children we give them that special name, it shows ownership, or a since of belonging.

Aloizs for the last several weeks has been asking me to give him a new name.  He doesn't want to be called Aloizs anymore.  I at first thought he was referring to a middle name because he doesn't have one.  But I later figured out he doesn't want the name Aloizs.  I ask him what name he wanted, and he said "No mom I want you to give me a name."  Can I just say that all the years of teaching God's Word and about the importance of a name and an identity all came back to my remembrance.  It has melted my heart for sure.  Every day he would ask me what his name will be, and I have told him I would have to think about it.  Until finally it came back to my remembrance a name that I have had for a very long time.

11 years ago today, Morgan my youngest was born.  February 7th.  On this day Tony and I anticipated the birth of our child, not knowing if it was a boy or a girl.  We had a girls name and a boys name ready on this day.  Of course we had our beautiful baby girl that we named Morgan.  But I had a boys name, that is If I ever had another son I would call him Mitchell.  Well 11 years later I have a new son,  that is wanting me to name him.  God brings this name back to my remembrance and today 11 years later I get to use this name and name Aloizs, Mitchell.

Aloizs/Mitch everyday tells me he loves me at least 50 or more times a day.  He tells me he loves God, He loves Jesus, He loves Dad, He loves his brother and sisters, he loves our church, He loves the dogs, and then in 20 more messages in a row He will tell me that He loves me over and over.  He is the most loving child, full of love.  There isn't a more perfect name for him, the meaning of Mitchell is Who is like God, and I got to thinking about that God is love.  He is like God in that he is so full of Love.  

A child that hasn't been shown very much love in his life could be so full of love has to come from a Heavenly Father, God has poured this love on Him and it over flows out of him.  

I have met a new friend on Facebook that knows Aloizs from going to Latvia on mission trips over that past several years.  I told him about Aloizs wanting his name changed, and he said he remembers him and another boy talking about that in the past.  That they wanted to change their name, and they did several times picking around.  He said he is eager to change his identity, to put his past of Latvia behind him.  He also said you see this in children that have a very painful past.  Aloizs is very serious about doing this, and told me he wants me to call him Mitchell now.  That he doesn't like the name Aloizs because of Latvia.  

So from now on his name is Mitch, a precious child sent to us from God, full of God's love.

talked with Aloizs today

Well I got to talk on the phone with Aloizs today:)
He wanted me to call him and he sent me his phone number. I sent him a message that we wouldn't understand each other, he said he wanted to hear my voice.  So I called him today...Let me say, it was the best $30 I have spent in a long time.  It was well worth it to hear him talk and say "I love you"  He said he was very happy. He sounded very happy to be talking, and he did very good in speaking in English.  Amazing how well he is picking up English.  He is an amazing kid, and I am so thankful God has chose us to be his family.  I have something to share that we talked about but it will be a blog all in itself.  I will share it soon.   

We are faced with a huge mountain in front of us, but I know God says with Him we can move mountains.  Praying that this mountain that stands before us that has to be moved before we can see Aloizs again, will move quickly.  

Aloizs said that it has always been his  dream to have a family.  would you please help us in making his dream come true. There are many ways to help, we need your prayers,
and we need financial support.  Any amount is a blessing and is one step closer to having him back.  Thank you to all of you that have been so supportive from the very beginning, you have touched and changed a life.  You have been a huge part of what God is doing in Aloizs' life.  I love you all!

Donate online: (designate donation to Tony & Melanie Bell)
https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/ExpressDonation.aspx?ORGID2=581703392&vlrStratCode=3UEltyzO6yU0mhKeVVosnzXTceoSWXbnClGCe0XxvCAExSBF6vTPejZu7UYVWhbG


Our you can mail a check made out to Open Door Adoption Agency to:
Tony and Melanie Bell
748 River Grove Ct.
Lewisville, NC 27023