UP AND RUNNING

GUESS WHAT???!!!  We are BACK UP AND BLOGGING AGAIN!!!

....EXPECTING JESUS TO DO **LOTS OF CRAZY THINGS** THINGS IN 2015 FOR US "THE COKES"!!!

Declaring 2015 the "YEAR OF INCREASE" in EVERY area of our lives!!!

Like our blog and follow us this year!!!!

YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED....JESUS IS "IN THE HOUSE"!!!!

QUICK UPDATE!

Greetings Family and Friends!

Just wanted to give a quick update and "PRAISE THE LORD"..!

As I had mentioned we were going to try and go two weeks EARLY to our i-600a fingerprint appointments yesterday. We were unsure if they would even see us or would we have to wait all day to possibly be "squeezed in". Well, I'm happy to say that once again God has shown "favor" to us and we were able to get our fingerprints done yesterday in about a little over 1 hour!! The trip was about 2.5 hours from our home so we were taking a gamble anyway, but thought hey, why not? The folks there were quite nice and so gracious to allow us to do this 2 weeks ahead of schedule!!

We are SO excited and just practically bursting with excitement and anticipation! As I had mentioned in my last post, I guess a good way to describe it would be to say that we are eagerly anticipating or waiting EXPECTANTLY for "THE CALL" to come anytime....prayerfully SOON!!

I have to say I probably made some Prison Guards laugh yesterday! We came out of the building and I was SOOO happy and relieved that I did a little *LEAP*! Heck, if I was really talented I would have clicked my heels on the jump...but thought better of it! But as we were getting into the car, my dear sweet husband said...you do realize all of those men just saw you do that?! LOL! I just started laughing and said...ya know, I don't care...I'm gonna be a MOM and I'm sure there are going to be LOTS of things that I might embarrass my kids with....but I just don't care...I'm H-A-P-P-Y!!!!!

Okay, I believe that's it for now....stay tuned for more GOOD things to come!!

Blessings,

Kevin, Marissa & Malachi!

CONTRACTIONS...AND SUCH

Greetings Family and Friends,

Just wanted to give you a little update quick! Shortly after I sent out our last post, things started happening! (GOOD THINGS)!

In just two short weeks from mailing our i-600a form out (our form to ask the United States Government permission to bring an orphan into our country), we received our fingerprint cards to go and be fingerprinted by Homeland Security!! This is amazing...and a VERY quick turn-around! Wow, I"m telling you, God is moving and working in ways we are not even seeing! Those mountains are just crumbling! This is the VERY last piece of paperwork we need to do before we are able to package everything up and send it to Uganda! It's such a neat and weird feeling all at the same time. I guess that's why they call it a "paper pregnancy" b/c minus the growing stomach I have all of those same emotions of a pregnancy...believe me! Ha ha ha!

We were able to finish putting Malachi's Nursery together for the most part (pictures are coming soon)...I promise! But as I put the lightbulb in his little elephant lamp last night and turned it on it cast a soft and warm glow about the room. It was comforting and reassuring that God is working everything out, right down to the last tiny detail. I had this comforting feeling and know that He will be in our arms soon. Call it a hunch, or a "Mommy's" intuition, but I just know that I know!! I cannot wait to snuggle him and have "creamy" time with him as my Mom has been able to do with my nephews! It's such a great time and they have always loved it...so needless to say I've been stocking up on Baby Magic (hmmm, my favorite)!!!

We will update you as things progress!!!!

Blessings!

Kevin, Marissa and Malachi!

Waiting with Expectancy

Greetings Family and Friends!

Just wanted to send out this quick update (but you all know me, it's never "quick")! Ha ha!

Since our last post a month ago we PASSED our Well Water Test which then meant we finally PASSED our Homestudy!!! Praise the Lord! Just a little "extra" note....not only did we PASS the water test....there was NO (none at all) bacteria found in our water! How cool is God? Ha ha...we asked for it to just pass....and it passed with flying colors! God is so amazing to his Children!

Next we had to get our travel shots (which were a bit more pricey than we expected...ouch)! But we were both brave and took our shots (3) like two champs! Ha ha ha!

With passing the Homestudy we were able to mail out our i-600a form to the Department of State, which is the FINAL state-side paperwork! It is to request our government's permission to bring an orphan into the United States! Wow...we really cannot believe it is getting closer and closer! We just received word that our application was "checked in and received", so now we wait for a card to go be fingerprinted by Homeland Security. After fingerprinting, we will wait for our "permission slip" in the mail and then we will bundle all paperwork up and mail it off to Uganda!

On our way in the car this morning Kevin and I were talking about how "Great God Is" and how perfect HIS timing is...! Now we've always known this...but it's so amazing to see Him at work daily in our lives! I was marveling at how He cares enough about us and our "desires" to have us wait for His "PERFECT" plan! In our discussion we were talking about Moses and the Israelities and how they wandered through the desert for 40 years. Because they needed to learn that God desired His BEST for them! I said to Kevin ya know...I think 8 1/2 years is a LONG time to wait for my heart's desire...but as I reflect, I'm so grateful for the things He's shown me along the way through this trying and exciting journey of infertility and adoption! The tears I've shed... I'll tell you, Malachi is one VERY MUCH LOVED little boy already!!

Just a bit of a financial update! As of our last post, we had been blessed and only needed approximately $8,000 to finish our "estimated" budget. Well, since then God has never stopped working on that! We have received so many financial love (blessing) gifts since then. Our estimate is now down to needing approximately $5,000! Wow, in ONE month God took care of $3,000! How amazing is that? How great truly is our God! Please continue to pray with us that His will be done and that we raise the final monies we need! God is in total control!

I've been having these dreams of being in Uganda and finally getting to lay hands on our precious Son! What a day that will be when God completes the plan and dreams He's always had laid out for our family! I'm so glad that He painted our family portrait! It's so funny, somehow I just don't think this one trip is the end for our family to Africa. Whether we adopt again or perhaps do some missions work there, I truly feel God is drawing our hearts there! How neat and great is that?! I just get teary-eyed thinking of a love for a Continent that I've never even been too...definitely is God's doing!

Please be watching for more to come....!!! We are waiting with anticipation and EXPECTANCY for "THAT PHONE CALL" prayerfully one day soon!

Much love and prayers,

Kevin, Marissa and Malachi!

LIVING & WALKING BY FAITH

Greetings Family and Friends!

Wow! Okay, sorry it's been so long since I have updated our blog. A lot has been going on in the past month and a 1/2 since I last posted...we've been busy, busy, busy!

We spent most of January preparing and praying for our Baby Coke Adoption Fundraiser we held on February 4th! Wow! What a great time that was...and what an excellent turnout! God definitely is still on the thrown and truly running this whole operation! We had a great evening of having the priviledge to host all of our dear family and friends and got to share our hearts on Africa and where we see the Lord taking us with our adoption of Malachi! It was a special evening, full of a delicious dinner of Spaghetti & Meatballs and excellent homemade pies from precious ladies! We were so blessed by all who either donated their time, talents of cooking, baking and serving to just praying for us and being here! Kevin and I were truly blessed by all who attended and those who were unable to attend but sent their love! Malachi is truly already in the hearts of all we know! God moved in great ways that night. We came into the evening with a total of an estimated $14,000 needed for the adoption and God cut that in half almost! We are down to only needing an estimated $8,000. When we started this adventure our prayer was that if this is what the Lord had for us then we knew that He would be the supplier of the funds and that He would move mountains to make that happen! And boy has He?! We have dear friends who have a 6 year old son and 10 year old daughter. Each night they pray for Baby Malachi and pray a prayer of blessing. Well, a month or two ago my friend called me and said she wanted to share what her son had prayed for Baby Malachi's financial situation the night before. She said he prayed ...please help them get the money they need...and we don't just want some of it, we want all of it and some extra too! Wow...doesn't the Word of God say that out of the mouths of babes praise is perfected?! How amazing and humbling is that?? Just totally blessed our hearts...so everytime time we look at that $8,000 amount (and to us that is alot, we say God we're trusting you to supply ALL of it and some extra too) God is so faithful and so good to do just that! We just have to remember that when a Mountain rises in our path we remind our mountain just HOW BIG our God is... and say with faith, Be Moved! And in His Word, He promises that!

Another praise the Lord is that we were blessed by friends in our church with an Ultra-Violet Light system for our Well! As we have shared with many of you our water has not been passing the bacteria test for the Homestudy because of it being a point or so off the required amount for passing. We were faced with this obstacle for the past 6 months or so roughly of going through the riggers of pouring up to as much as 5 gallons of bleach down our well to try and "clean out the pipes" of bacteria. All the while having the "Joy" (severe sarcasm here) of smelling like bleach! So much so, that when you sweat or the wind blew through your hair you could smell it...not a great experience and DON'T recommend it to anyone! Ha ha ha! But prayerfully with this new Ultra-Violet Light System we will not have to endure that and when we take the sample in later this week pryaerfully it will PASS with flying colors. So please pray for that!

So now your probably wondering where we are in our process. Well, here is the breakdown! Once we PASS the well test, that is the last thing we will need for the Homestudy to be completed. Once that is done , we will have to file an i-600a form that basically states that we will be traveling to Uganda to adopt "an orphan" and we will also have to be fingerprinted by Homeland Security. Then when we pass that test, we will send documentation to Uganda. They are currently searching for Baby Malachi now. We do not have any idea who or where He is, we just have specified that we would like a BOY up to the age of 8 months old.

Prayer Requests (please agree with us)
1.) That God would miraculously provided the remaining $8,000 we need!
2.) That our Well Test Passes
3.) That even now God would protect our precious Baby until we can get to Him!

Many blessings and love,

Kevin, Marissa & Malachi

NEW YEAR'S BLESSINGS

Warm Greetings to our Family and Friends!

Wow, it is truly hard to believe that we have just entered into 2011. Kevin and I were just reminiscing about entering into 2000 and what a big deal that was...11 years ago! Boy does time sure fly! And I must say through the journey of 11 years there have been many UPs and DOWNs as life goes. But through it all there has been one thing that has remained the same and never changed. One thing that remains the same, yesterday, today and forever, Jesus! To which we are so grateful to have Him in our lives!

After talking and discussing this new adventure into Uganda, we agreed that we would not "officially" start the search until January 1, 2011. We wanted to start the new year off right!! So at 12:00 am last night while watching the BALL drop in NYC (via TV of course...we're not crazy enough to get in that crowd), we sent an email to our dear friend Tina of Mugisha Ministries and gave her the official " G-O "!! Ha ha ha...it was such a neat and thrilling feeling! But we had also been discussing the "gender" thing. We realize that at the beginning of this Ugandan adventure we had said that we were not going to specify gender. However, through this all we have just been feeling uneasy about that and I have been feeling like we were meant to go with a boy. And so the deciding factor was this. On Christmas morning as we were gathered with my family, our nephews, Landon and Brendon informed us that every night they still "Pray for Baby Malachi"! So we took that as our "sign from the Lord" that what we were feeling was correct and that Baby Malachi was still to be in Uganda. As my Mom said, for all we know he could be living in Uganda and have Rwandan roots and heritage. A lot of people fled Rwanda during and after the Genocide. So who knows really, but Jesus! :-) But we're happy!

But the most exciting news came at 12:09 am this morning via email. It was at that time that Tina sent us an email letting us know that we are family number 2 in line for Uganda!!! Oh my goodness...oh my goodness!!! AHHH!! SOOOO exciting, yet still having to put ALL of our trust in the Lord financially. But we know that God promised in His word to show his mighty works and that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed (and that is T-I-N-Y) He will always be there and prove Himself faithful! So we will continue to walk by faith and trust Him down to the last penny!!!

We love you guys and covet your daily prayers for our growing family!!

Many blessings,

Kevin, Marissa and Malachi!!

A FRESH WIND

Greetings Dear Family and Friends,

Wow! Can I just say how BIG and GREAT oh...and AMAZING is the God we serve??!! As one of the favorite songs of our kids in our Christmas play goes..."Shout it from the roof tops, shout it in the streets, come on everybody spread the news with me...." I want to SHOUT it from the roof tops...how amazing God has been in our adoption journey. Please allow me to explain....

As those of you know who have been following us on our Rwandan adoption journey, the doors to Rwanda in August were unexpectedly closed due to a program that the government is preparing to enter into called the Hague Convention. It is a good program as it protects kids from Child Trafficking, but the time line was rough b/c we didn't have all of our paperwork completed and just couldn't make the August 31 deadline. We were so disheartened because we truly believed that God was beginning to move and then the doors were shut all of the sudden. But as a very dear friend told me, "delay in the kingdom of God does not mean denial"...that has helped me over the past few months as we've just went through the motions of waiting and praying for God to open the doors to Rwanda quickly. But little did we know He was preparing to surprise us with an all together different plan and path.

It is with that that I proudly declare that we are now adopting from Uganda, Africa (which is right above Rwanda on the map)! We are elated! There is one word to describe this process as I'm told "Whirlwind"! Things have a tendency to happen FAST in Uganda! Gulp....just teasing! Ha ha ha! Allow me to explain one of the many reasons why God is so amazing with this adoption so far.

About 2 months ago, a dear friend of ours had a African Children's Choir(called the Watoto) (http://www.watoto.com/home) come to their church. The Choir she explained had brought jewelry to sell made by Christian Women (who are Moms to orphaned children) who had Aids and were trying to earn a living. She said she noticed a beautiful hand-made wooden bracelet and her husband bought it for her. Well, when we met and I told her our story one day she said the Lord asked her to give that bracelet to me as a "symbol" of faith that God was going to do just as he promised and give us our heart-born African Child. And let me tell you when I took the bracelet and placed it on my wrist I knew that that bracelet had been made just for me! You see, I have a hard time finding bracelets that fit my wrist and it fit like a glove! Just like the Cinderella slipper, that bracelet was destined to be mine all along. Well, what I've not shared is that the bracelet and children's choir was from, Yep, you guessed it...Uganda! Isn't God SOOO neat!!!

Now, Rwanda is definitely still in our hearts and so is Malachi (whether he is from Rwanda or Uganda). And as the Lord has been speaking to us, Rwanda is not our Season right now, and who knows, that may come sometime later! We are pleased and excited to say that we are NOT going to specify a Boy or Girl...we are going to let the Lord decide that!!!! To which my Mom (who is dying for a granddaughter...even though Kevin teases her that she had 3 girls to raise) is thrilled!!! Ha ha ha! Love ya Mom!!!

So, we are absolutely thrilled and will ask that you continue to pray with us as we start this new adventure and ask that you please keep the many friends of ours that are still awaiting Rwanda to open back up the grace and peace to hold steady as they await their children!

Much love and Prayers,

Marissa, Kevin and ________ ?