Thoughts on "Yuck".

I did something today that I haven't done in four years at least.  I put on my big black roller blades and took off.  Those of you who knew me four years ago, know how wonderful this must have felt.  Those of you who know me now, might also be able to imagine how much needed this time was.  You see, some of you know that the past couple of weeks have been filled with "yuck" all around me.  "Yuck" actually doesn't really begin to explain it really.  Here is a run down.  An adoption quickly approaching 2 years with no real end in sight.  One young man and two young women my age dead, leaving behind young families and countless loved ones.  Cancer claiming yet another precious member of our family.  A shooting in an elementary school, probably not too much different from the one I taught in only 2 years ago. Seriously, so much sorrow and sadness in this world.  I was to the point of being a bit overwhelmed by it all. 

Then, as I took off on my roller blades, this song was the VERY FIRST one that played.  We could make all kinds of arguments about these different tragedies.  "Adoption shouldn't be so hard, I mean there are sooo many babies who need homes" or "If we could only find a cure" or "We really need better gun laws".  I'm not saying that some of those arguments aren't valid; I'm just saying that even if all of those problems were solved this world would still be filled with sorrow.  This world would still be filled with pain.  This world would still be filled with "yuck".  Why?  This. world. is. not. our. home.  Like the song says (go listen to it) "Jesus has overcome, And the grave is overwhelmed, The victory is won He is risen from the dead."  I needed that reminder.  I needed to be reminded that Jesus has won the victory over sin and all the sorrow in this world.

1Corinthians 15:55-57 "Oh death, where is your victory?  Oh death, where is your sting?  The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"

My time roller blading ended with this song. These lyrics brought me to tears. 

"Higher than the mountains that I face
Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant through the trial and the change
One thing remains
One thing remains

Your love never fails it never gives up it never runs out on me  [ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsty.com/jesus-culture-one-thing-remains-lyrics.html ]
On and one and on and on it goes
It overwhelms and satisfies my soul
And I never ever have to be afraid
One thing remains."

I am so thankful for His love.  So thankful that it never fails.  In the face of the fear of our adoption never coming to an end.  In the face of the sorrow for my friends and family who are dealing with loss.  In the face of evil that is senseless killings.  This one thing remains.  "Your love never fails it never gives up it never runs out on me."  That love is the answer to the questions that these trials bring.

Romans 5:8 "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

Adoption Update and some pretty awesome shirts.

We got some news last week that we have been waiting for for almost two years. Our agency notified us that there is a little girl in DRC who is now a Mattingly! Wow! What a journey we have been through so far. Here is a recap for those of you who may not know:

---Start with one agency. Wait for well over a year for a referral. No end in sight as far as that wait. Start to hear about and suspect some corruptness within that agency. Find an agency with a waiting child list. Switch to that agency. Get a referral for a little 11 month old girl almost immediately. Wait seven months only to hear that she actually had family come forward who wanted her. Cry, grieve, pray, and wait to see if it was in fact family that wanted her and not someone else. Get a phone call that the little girl did in fact have loving family that had been looking for her. Cry some more. Overwhelmed by peace in God's sovereign plan. Get word of another little girl who is a true orphan who needs a home. Accept that referral, she was then five months old. Two months later here we are! We now know who Lydia is and we can't WAIT to kiss all over her sweet cheeks!--

I have a couple whole other posts started about things we have learned through this journey and how this journey has changed our faith and grown our love for Jesus, but those posts are for another day. Today we just wanted to rejoice with you! I also wanted to let you know that we will be doing a long sleeved shirt fundraiser for the next couple of weeks. We will be taking orders so if you'd like one let me know your details! The adult shirts will be long sleeved and are $25. The kiddo's only come in short sleeve and are $20. If you'd like one just look me up on facebook or shoot me an email! lara.mattingly81@gmail.com

Thanks so much for walking this wonderful journey alongside us!

Free Greeting Card Deal!

Still card shopping?

Have you gotten your Christmas cards yet? Here is another great site! Treat is Shutterfly’s exciting new greeting card brand that makes it easy for people to create and send one-of-a-kind greeting cards. Treat cards are perfect for holidays, birthdays, congrats, thank yous and every occasion in between. It’s crazy fun. It’s super easy. And it’s totally personal.

And today only you can create and send a totally personalized greeting card from Treat for FREE. Whether saying thanks for Thanksgiving, wishing a best friend a holiday birthday, or simply sharing the holiday cheer with a just because card, Treat lets you create a one-of-a-kind card that is sure to impress. Just use the code TREATBLOGR! Then enjoy the fact that you just made the recipient of the card smile really big right before Thanksgiving!

Are you planning Christmas Cards??

Are you planning on sending Christmas Cards this year?  It's hard to believe it's already time to start thinking about Christmas!  I've been picking pictures today for our Christmas Cards and I love the options that tinyprints has!  Seriously LOVE THEM!!!  So if you are looking for some great quality cards to send to friends and family this year then you will most definitely want to check out their special offers page http://www.tinyprints.com/promo/tiny-prints-coupon-codes-promotions.htm!!  Oh I can't wait to see ours!  And seriously when you have awesome pictures like this one:

why wouldn't you want to share!!?? 

**This is a sponsored post from Tiny Prints.

Adoption Update and Cards for a Cause

In my last post I mentioned that our agency thought they might have another referral for us. They did in fact get us a new referral very quickly and while it was bittersweet knowing that we will forever love one little girl we'll never know, we are so thankful for God's mercy in giving us a new little face to pray for and hopefully call our own. We accepted a referral for a sweet little five month old girl on October first. The timeline from here is estimated at 6 months. We will of course be praying for everything to move crazy quick and would invite you to do the same. :-). Basically, now we wait to pass court (again) and for our appeal period to end which would make this little sweetie officially our Lydia.

For now we have a super exciting fundraiser!! As you all know I am a consultant for Usborne Books and More. What you may not know is we have a really wonderful fundraiser called Cards for a Cause. Basically you have the choice of two different sets of adorable cards. There are 30 cards in each box and each box is only $30!! One dollar a card!!! With each box you purchase you are helping fund not only our matching grant, but my sister's family's matching grant as well!! I do believe that is a win-win folks!! Interested?! Let me know on here or better yet check it out on my facebook! Our goal is to sell at least 50 boxes! Please help is meet that goal and share this with as many friends as possible! Thanks!!!

Heartache, adoption hiccups, and hope in God

We have been in an adoption whirlwind of sorts. You see, two weeks ago we received word from our agency that the little girl that we got a referral on in February actually had family in Congo who objected to our adoption judgement. Our agency wasn't sure about the validity of it, but yesterday we got a phone call from our agency saying that the little girl that we've been calling Lydia was no longer an orphan, she was with her family in Africa.

So there you have it. Adoption is hard, but at the same time it is glorious. You see adoption is the gospel. Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!". We have been reminded so many times in this journey about the depth of Jesus' love for us. And while we are heartbroken that the little sweet face we've been looking at for 8 months is not our Lydia, we have peace and hope in God's perfect plan for our family. We know that He will help us to love the next little girl that he gives us a picture of and prayerfully brings home to us. And just as we cling to His words in John 14:18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." about the day we will see Him face to face, we also cling to those words for our Lydia. We will come to you sweet girl.

So what's next for us? We will keep perusing our Lydia just as Jesus pursued us. Will it be hard? Yes. Will there be more heartache? Maybe. Waiting? Definitely. We will speak to our agency coordinator on Monday about another little girl that is waiting in Africa. We will continue to work on getting our Lifesong grant matched to finish funding our adoption. Most of all we will pray. We will pray for Lydia. We will pray for hearts to be stirred to care for orphans. We will pray for our story to bring glory to His great name. The one who gave it all so we could be "children of God." We will enjoy this sweet little one He has already entrusted us with:

And wait with excitement to see His plan for our little Lydia.

Huge Praise: Matching Grant and how you can help!

Lifesong and our church's orphan care ministry is partnering with us by offering us a $3000 matching grant. Here is the text for the letter with details on how you can help us get every dollar matched which would mean $6000 toward costs associated with our adoption and getting our sweet baby girl home. That would put this adoption very close to being fully funded. Our God is big people!! (PS. I'm going to try to not be a so terrible blogger in the near future)

Dear Family and Friends,

Most of you are aware that about a year and a half ago we began a journey to answer God’s call to care for the fatherless through adoption. We began the process to adopt a child from the Democratic Republic of Congo in February of 2011. You may also be aware that a little over five months ago we finally got to see the face of the child we have been perusing all this time. Our agency has advised us not to put our sweet Lydia’s picture in print, but trust us when we say she is beyond precious!! In the pictures we’ve seen she even has the same serious face that her big sister Lylah is so well known for! Right now we are waiting for documents to clear so that we can begin the process of applying for her visa and scheduling embassy appointments. We are getting so close and are prayerful that God would move in mighty ways to bring Lydia home even by Christmas.

Some of you might be wondering what prompted us to adopt. Well, primarily, we see that God calls us to care for orphans. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction” James 1:27. We recognized that for our family one way we could care for orphans was to adopt one into our family. We know that God loves Lydia and all other orphans around the world. His desire is for them to be cared for. We have a loving home ready to adopt, love, and care for Lydia and prayerfully one day she will see her need to be adopted into an eternal family through Jesus Christ.

The biggest challenge for adopting families, ourselves included, is finding the finances to make an adoption happen. The estimated total cost of our adoption is over $25,000. This cost covers adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel expenses, attorney fees, and funds to care for Lydia while she is still living away from us. We certainly don’t have $25,000 lying around, but God is faithful and has proven it over and over. By His grace and the generosity of friends and family we’ve been able to pay the initial $15,000! We appreciate you and the way you have been involved in our journey thus far. We would like to ask you to pray and consider continuing on with us as we seek to bring our little lady home. There are two specific ways you can help:

1. Prayer-Please pray that God would protect and provide for Lydia in the DRC until we are able to bring her home. Pray that the remaining steps of our process would be smooth and without problem. Begin to pray for Lydia’s transition to us and for our transition to a family of four. Ultimately pray that God will give us wisdom to raise the children He is entrusting us with and that Lydia (and Lylah) would come to know Jesus as their Savior.

2. Financial Support- Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $10,000 in adoption expenses to bring Lydia home. Lifesong partnering with our church Living Hope has graciously given us a Matching Grant of $3,000 to help bring Lydia home!

If you would like to be a part of God’s work in giving Lydia a family and in turn exposing her to the gospel as a part of her daily life, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and October 31st to the address below. Lifesong is a trusted organization administering the funds on Lydia’s behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of the funds received.

1. Please make checks payable to: Lifesong. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “Mattingly #2986 adoption” in the memo section of your check. (Note: In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong which retains full discretion and control over its use).

2. Mail checks to : Lifesong for Orphans Attn: Mattingly#2986 PO Box 40/ 202 N. Ford St. Gridley, IL 61744

Thank you so much for investing in the Kingdom through prayers and finances-we pray that this journey will bring much glory to God! We will continue to update about our process and by all means stop us and ask to see Lydia’s picture! We love to show her sweetness to those who love her already just as we do!

In Christ Alone, Nathan, Lara, and Lylah