We Vogel...do You?

Ahh! We just returned from our annual two week camping trip at Vogel State Park. It was a great time of refreshing and renewing. Emma, being the "shy" kid, spent the entire two weeks meeting new friends, riding her bike, and spending time at the "beach".  Some nights we would have to walk around the campground to meet all the families of the kids Emma had met. She loved every minute of it.

We have often said that Vogel is a verb. That confuses a lot of people. Vogel State Park is nuzzled in the North GA mountatin and you can just chill. There are paddle boats, putt-putt course, playgrounds, streams, beach...No schedule...we LOVE IT.

The stream right in front of our camper...

We eat breakfast around 11am...that's right, everyone around else was fixing lunch but we were frying up bacon...yummy. Most of the time we skipped lunch and would just have snacks at the beach. Then my wonderful husband would cook us up something on the grill. He is a master on the grill :)

She's such a funny girl :)

People have asked me what we did for 2 weeks. Well the answer is, we Vogel. I highly recommend it.

Isn't this beautiful !!!

My favorite girl!

Almost every year, we head to Cleveland to the famous Cabbage Patch Hospital. Every year, we leave without one. Except this year...Phillip finally caved in and agreed to let Emma adopt a baby. It was quite an experience. We walked around the "hospital" to let Emma find just right one and then began the adoption process. Oh my...she had to raise her right hand and everything...Here is Emma with Kara Elizabeth...

Jack Update:

There is no real new news on our adoption. All we know is that they are still processing paperwork...granted we are not sure who they is :)

We are learning a lot about ourselves through this process. We are also learning alot about God. Thank you Lord for the constant reminders that You are in control and You walk this road with us. Keep us focused on You. I pray we walk each step in obedience with You. Here are a few pictures sent to us by the last team that went to Haiti...remember to visit http://www.jbahaiti.org/ to see what's happening with the ministry.

There are 45 other children at Cabaret Baptist Children's Home in Bercy, Haiti. They are all beautiful children. They all just want someone to love them. Many need sponsors to help with daily needs...all of them need loving families. What is your part? Are you willing to help care for these? What can your family do to make a difference in the life of an orphan? I encourage you to pray and ask God how He wants to use you and your family to impact the life of a child?

Need a good read? I HIGHLY RECOMMEND:

Adopted For Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches

 written by Dr. Russell Moore. This is NOT a how-to book on adoption. This is not just for those who are considering adoption. This book caused me tears, laughter, and a deeper look at my own relationship with Christ. I am still processing some of the things God showed me in this book.

One reviewer states: As a church, we're called to be at the forefront of adoption. This book would be a good place to start for anyone who wants to know how he or she can respond being an adopted child of God. Not everyone is called to adopt. But we're all called to participate. As Moore writes, "The Father adopts children, and we're called to be like Him. Jesus cares for orphans, and we're being conformed into His image. If you're in Christ, you're called to be involved in this project somehow."

I would be happy to allow you to borrow my copy...however, I've already loaned it out. You will have to get on the list :)

So...you wanted me to tell our story

After many requests from friends, I will attempt to tell you our adoption story, the short version. It has been quite a journey of faith and waiting...


In January 2008, I had the privilege to go to Haiti with our church on a medical mission trip. However, I have no medical experience. I didn't even realize it was a medical trip until our packing day one week before the trip. I guess God covered my ears during all the discussions of medical aspect because He knew I would decide to cancel my trip.

People seemed so afraid for me to take this journey. Haiti was SO dangerous or so people thought...never once did I feel uncomfortable or scared. Thank you Lord for your presence. Phillip wasn't sure about this trip. It was my first international trip without him and he too was concerned about the safety of me going to Haiti. But, he heard my earnest desire to go to Haiti and knew I would not go without full understanding that I was supposed to. My parents were not real thrilled with the idea but supported me fully. Anywho...

We when arrived in Haiti, on Monday, we unpacked our bags and settled in. We got everything ready for the medical clinic that was to begin on Tuesday. Then, we journeyed downstairs to the children's quarters and started loving on kids. Oh My Goodness...all they wanted was for you to wrap your arms around them and hug them. Think about your own kids and how much you love on them daily...these children have no one to love on them or tell them how special they are. I still remember the smiles and yearning in their eyes like it was yesterday...

On Tuesday, we began the medical clinic. Since I have zero medical skills, I got the privilege to work in the Pharmacy. I do know how to count...so I could be used here. However, after an hour or so, the missionary brought in a limp, lethargic little boy that was severely malnourished. She handed him to me and said I was his mommy for the week. He was completely my responsibility. My thoughts...no, not me. I don't do babies. Not me, I didn't come to babysit for the week. No, not me...I don't have a nurturing bone in my body. I don't have a lot of compassion...he doesn't speak English...he is too sick...my list went on and on in my head.

But, what's the key to being on mission?  Flexibility...so I took this boy in my arms and IMMEDIATELY fell in love. I spent the rest of the week taking care of this little boy. The aunt told us that his name was Jackenson but I called him Jack Jack and it stuck. Some of the other team members called him Peanut because all he would eat was Peanut Butter. The orphanage still calls him Jack Jack.

When Monday came back around and it was time to leave, emotions rose up in me that I had never felt before. Fear set in for the life of this little boy. How would he make it without me making sure he ate. Sadness overwhelmed me. I had fallen in love with this little Haitian boy and the thought of leaving him in a country with no food and no family caused great heartache. I've never been known to be real emotional but this day I was completely overwhelmed. It was a long ride from the orphanage in Bercy to Port Au Prince. I think I cried the whole trip.

Of course, when I arrived back home, I began to pour my heart out to Phillip about the necessity of going to get Jack Jack and make him part of our family.
However, Phillip was not even close to that. We had spoken of adoption before but God hadn't brought Phillip to that place yet. I cried out of sadness. I cried out of anger. I cried out of frustration. I cried out of fear.

Phillip and I went through some very tough times as a couple due to us being in two different places. After several months of frustration on both our parts, we agreed to pray about this separately. I promised not to bring up the subject of adoption again. We agreed to pray and come back together and discuss when we both had spent lots of time with the Lord about it. My prayer was that God would either change my heart or bring Phillip to the point where I was. But I knew that we had to come together on this decision and we had to be willing to move forward with whatever answer we received.

Well...needless to say God began to speak to both of us separately. In November (10 months later), Phillip went to the Florida Baptist Convention. All he said when he got home was that everywhere he turned, he was hit in the face with the positives of adoption. We said there were booths all over the convention dealing with adoption. All I said was, "really." I still didn't push the issue.

We also received a call one Saturday afternoon asking us if we would be interested in adopting a little Hispanic baby. The parents were both under 15 and wanted it to go to a good home. Phillip and I discussed it and to my surprise, he said for us to do the research and meet with them. Well, as you can tell, that situation never worked out but I'm convinced it was just a stepping stone for us.

Since my trip in 2008, I had a sense of urgency to get back to Haiti. I fell in love not only with Jack Jack and the other kids but also with the people of Haiti. They so much needed to hear about the only real hope. I went through many arguments with God as to why I didn't have the opportunity to return to Haiti. Our church sent three other teams during my season of waiting and the trips never worked out for me to go. Well...now I know :)

God continued to work in both Phillip and I and we came to the understanding that adoption was the way we are to expand our family. Phillip says that we did not choose adoption; God commanded us to do it and we have no choice but to follow Him in obedience.

We started the paperwork in January. I remember Phillip waking me up in the middle of the night and telling me we had to go get Jack Jack. I don't do middle of the night so I was completely out of it. I really didn't get it. But he shook me to wake me up, looked me in the eyes and said, "We have to go get our son." Tears began to fall (they are falling now) and we began to pray for God to lead us each step of the way.

There are way too many God moments to mention but an ah ha moment...
January 12, 2010--massive earthquake hit Haiti (as if you didn't know that)
January 12, 2010--Phillip turned 35
Haiti's #1 requirement on the adoption checklist is that one parent must be 35. Of course, I married an older man so Phillip just met that requirement :)
We didn't even realize this until a week or so after we filed our paperwork. Thank you Lord for one more reminder that we are taking the right steps.


Well..
In March 2010, Phillip and I both were able to lead a team to Haiti to help rebuild from the earthquake. Needless to say, this trip was full of emotion for both of us. This would be Phillip's first opportunity to meet his son and my first reunion with Jack Jack since January 2008. My prayer was that my emotions would not get in the way of what God wanted us to accomplish on this trip. The purpose of the trip was not the adoption...it was to be used by God to bring hope to a nation of hopelessness. However, Jack Jack was just an added benefit. We stayed at the orphanage where Jack Jack lives. We were able to spend every evening with him. We were able to rock him to sleep at night. I'm not sure he had been rocked to sleep since I was there in 2008. We were able to love on him and God confirmed in our hearts that we were on the right road. There was an immediate connection between the three of us and Jack Jack would look for us when we came in the gates from our day and run to us. He would reach his arms up for us to pick him up and give us a huge smile and stare into our eyes with those beautiful dark eyes of his own. Oh My goodness...I'm weeping as I write this...

We are moving on in our process. Our dossier is already in Haiti. Our facilitator is hard at work moving our paperwork through the necessary steps. We are anxiously awaiting Jack's arrival at our home. We are currently working on his room. He will have a nice "boy" room to come home too.

Thank you so much for your prayers with us through this process. Though the waiting is hard and at times frustrating, we know God's timing is perfect and we will wait on Him through all this. We know that God will watch over Jack Jack. I know that Jack Jack gets at least 2 meals a day (which is more than most in Haiti) and gets some interaction while teams are there.

We can't wait to introduce you all to our son, Jackenson Pierre Herrington. But you can call him Jack!

A little catch up work...

It's been a while but a few things have been happening...

June 13 we headed to Orlando for the Southern Baptist Convention.

We stayed at Disney's Fort Wilderness. Upon arriving at check-in, we were greeted with a big HOWDY by the staff. My darling Emma looked at me and said, "I could never work here because I will NOT say HOWDY." We just busted out laughing...she keeps us in stitches. Tuesday evening our dear friends from seminary, Jim and Beth Collins and their children, came to campground and we grilled burgers and swam. It was nice to catch up with them. 10 years has been a long time :(
Wednesday am we decided to head to Typhon Lagoon to cool off. We had about 5 hours until the rain came in but we had to head back to convention anyway.
Thursday...long day. We arrived at Magic Kingdom at 8am. We watched the opening and then headed straight to Space Mountain (before line got too long.) Emma loved it so much that we rode it again that night.

We had a wonderful day at the Kingdom. Even though the crowd was large, we were able to do all that we wanted. Thursday night we had reservations at the Hoop De Do Musical Revue.  Oh My Goodness...it was AWESOME.  We haven't laughed that hard in such a long time. Emma was completely engaged and laughing out loud...

After dinner, we headed back to the Kingdom to close it down. We watched the parade and got back to the camper around midnight...exhausted of course. GREAT FAMILY DAY!!!

Friday we packed up and headed home...Boo.

But I left for CENTRI-KID camp on Saturday...not much time to process Disney because we left the church at 5am. That's right...am. Whoa! I'm not the morning person but we made it. Had a great week of camp. Thank you Ms. Debbie and kids for a great week.                                                                                             

We did hear from our adoption agent today. There have been a few problems with Jack Jack's family and their lack of official identification. This comes from a country where Jack was born in a mud hut with no doctor, there are no jobs, no food, etc...but the family needs "official IDs." Our faciliator is working with the family to make sure this is taken care of quickly. Keep praying God continues to move our paperwork...Here's a new pic of Jack Jack we downloaded from the ministry's website. I can't wait to get my arms around him again...      

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Today...P and I celebrate 13 years of marriage. Thank you Lord for a wonderful husband that loves me unconditionally. We've had ups and downs but I wouldn't trade it for anything. We had 3 years of seminary...talk about ups and downs; served great churches through youth/children ministry, and now senior pastor at a place we love, FBC, Live Oak. God has always been faithful to us through all the rocky roads and we have learned the importance of leaning on each other and seeking His guidance first. I'm excited about what God has for us in the future...Thank you Lord for building our marriage on You. May we never loss sight of You.

Race Day Arrives

The setting was the 36th annual Georgia Blueberry Festival in Alma, GA. That's where Mimi and "Uncle Lee" live. Emma has been running off and on with me for a few weeks, preparing for this race...and she would not disappoint. But first, Phillip had to run his 5k. What once was a specialty of his, the years have increased while the miles have not. And boy was it hot for 8am!

With a great Ipod playlist of classic 80's hits, it was a fast race that only set the stage for more in the future. He finished 20th overall in 22:41.But the day was really about Em and her first race.

The gun fires and we are off...the first race adrenaline rushing through the system and daddy has to remind those short legs that she has a whole mile to run. A funny moment occurs about 300 yards into the race when Em asks, "We can stop if we want to, can't we?" The competitve daddy says, "No we can't stop! You want to win a trophy don't you?!"So the encouragement starts sooner that I thought.

She did great and really began to see how a race is run. I pointed out a little boy in front of her and told her to go catch him. She passed him, and with a proud daddy by her side, Em strided it all the way through to  her very first road race in 9:48!

The best part as a dad was cheering her every step of the race and seeing her finish. When her name was called for a trophy, she sprinted to the table. We are so proud of her.

Here she is with her trophy as one of the top 10 student finishers. She finished 10th overall!

Not sure what it means...but we are excited :)

I received a facebook message that Jack was taken to Port Au Prince to work on his adoption paperwork. We have NO clue what that means but we are rejoicing that something in Haiti is happening. We are learning to rejoice in every small step. Each step is one step closer to having Jack home. Here's a picture taken last week. Oh my goodness...I'm ready to be able to wrap my arms around him.

BTW: Yes he has on a girl shirt and yes I did buy him boy clothes, but he's at an orphanage with 45 other kids so who knows where "his" clothes are. But look at those captivating eyes and gorgeous smile...does it really matter what he has on?

Besides, he doesn't like to keep his clothes on anyway...boy are we gonna have to work on that :)

In other news...

Our amazing daughter, Emma, has yet again taken on a new challenge. She wants to be a runner like her daddy. Phillip and Em have been running in the evenings and she loves it. I'm not sure if she likes the running or just the one on one time with her daddy. Phillip says she's pretty good. I was able to catch them the other day. They even seem to have the stride... below she was doing her best to finish "strong"

Surprise...10 years

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary at FBC, Live Oak. Our church surprised us with a reception after the evening service. It was a great time of fellowship and lots of laughter. Several told "tales" on Phillip from the past 10 years and we were showered with lots on encouragement. Who would've thought that when we left seminary in May of 2000 to be Associate Pastor of Students/Children that 10 years later, we still be here and now serving as Senior Pastor. God indeed has taught us alot over the past 10 years. We are so grateful to serve a God that will never leave us or forsake us. We are thankful that He has given us His word to cling to and the promises and examples in it. Looking forward to many more years of service at FBC, Live Oak.

Here's a few pics that we took that afternoon.

We come a long way baby!!