Happy Thanksgiving! In honor of this day of thanks, Nadeem and I would like to take some time to thank all of you for your love, support, and prayers.
"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." -Phil. 1:3
Our heartfelt thanks to...
*God, our Father, who brought us on this incredible journey, blessed us with a daugther, strengthens us daily, and Who will deliver us home.
*My mom who takes care of our cats and home, prepares and mails packages, sends daily emails of encouragement and news, who loves us beyond measure, and who fights and pounds on every door trying to get us help to come home.
*Hasan's family for welcoming Nadeem, Kalina, and me into their homes as part of their family for an indefinite amount of tme.
*Hasan's mom, Ayesha, for working diligently to find a baby girl for us to adopt, even though Ayesha had never met us. She spent hours every week meeting with the magistrate, visiting Kalina in the orphanage, taking Kalina for a doctor's exam, bringing Kalina supplies, and persuading the nuns to keep Kalina for us until we could arrive. Once we got here, Ayesha helped us get Kalina's birth certificate, passport, and legal guardianship papers in a land where we spoke no Bangla and had no connections.
*Kalina's Godmother, Lisa Slusher, for heading our prayer team, sending me regular emails of encouragement and inspiration, loving us deeply, and holding onto the vision of us getting our baby and us coming home even when I couldn't.
*Kalina's Godfather, Hasan, for taking off two weeks from work to travel to Bangladesh to help us with the legal process of getting Kalina, for connecting us with his mom, for being a faithful friend to Nadeem, and for teaching Kalina all about her heritage.
*Kalina's Godbrother, Ryan Johnson, for believing that we would be parents one day. Because of him, we knew that we could easily love a child that was not ours biologically.
*"the Tims" for sending Nadeem messages of encouragement and love
*Tim Sparks' men's small group for praying for us
*Ed and Cindy Potts for praying, encouraging, and sharing our story worldwide
*my friends from my former small group: Sherry C, Lydia, and Margo for your prayers and encouragement
*my friend from my most recent small grup, Georgia, for praying, encouraging, and visiting our cats
*Lisa and Mort, my first real friends from a church, for praying and calling my mom to check on us regularly
*Dawn Burke for sending just the right message from her Bible study
*Brenda for showing us that adoption can be rewarding and for giving my mom advice on dealing with the adoption process
*our friends from Greater Gwinnett/Sugarloaf/StoneMill Church: Ken and Susan Rucker, Darcie, Mike and Tonya, Toni and Johnny, Mike and Debbie, Pastor Rusty, Shelley and David, Eileen, Alan and Lucinda, Jill and Angel, Sam and Minton, and others who are praying for us
*our siblings and their families for loving, encouraging, and praying for us: Jon, Kim, Joshua, and Baxter (woof, woof), and Nadia, Sean, and Hannah and Sean's mom Barbara
*my cousin Tena and her husband Butch for offering us some incredible support
*my apu (sister) Laura DeLaNoy for her words of inspiration and occasional humor
*our relatives who ask about us often
*our awesome prayer team of 9 ladies who from the start of our journey have prayed faithfully, praised God, and encouraged us: Lisa, Laura, Patricia, Angela, Georgia, Becky, Janet, Rhonda, and Gran
*my friend Angela B for posting our photos, writing on the blog for me while our computer was broken, sending words of encouragement, and doing little tasks for me
*my former student Michael Crowther for posting our clocks and counter on the blog
*Jeff and John Slusher for mowing our lawn
*Charlie Slusher for praying for us and sending a word of encouragement to Nadeem
*my former students Ryan P, Emma, Madison, Meagan, Cristina, and Lexi for following our story, caring about us, and waiting eagerly to meet Kalina
*my Walnut Grove friends: Kathy, Sue, Melisa, Cindie, Susan O, Lisa N, and Darlene for praying and encouraging us
*my Dyer friends Deb and others who ask about us for caring
*my friend and former teaching partner, Laura Dalton, for loaning us her camera, sending frequent words of encouragement, and offering to do anything to help
*my friend and fellow gifted teacher, Mandy, for praying, sending words of encouragement and offering to do anything to help
*my fellow health nut friend, Rebecca, for sending words of encouragement and sending the SOS message to Angela when our computer went down
*Nadeem's ALTA team and member Ken for caring about us
*Nadeem's long time friend, Steve B, for caring about us
*Kathy Gentry's Sunday school class and 2nd grade class for praying for us
*my mom's Sunday school class for praying for us
*Mrs. Grams' women's small group for praying for us
*my mom's friends Judi and Angela for their words of encouragement and prayers
*my friends Kim's, Jill's, and Anne's churches for praying for us
*Kelly W for sending words of encouragement, offering to babysit and do housework for us, giving us tons of baby supplies and clothes, and praying for us
*my friend Kellie and her husband Will for praying for us and showing that God does answer your prayers for a family
*Nadeem's boss, Pamela Ewing, for supporting him
*Rajiv who is filling in for Nadeem at SunTrust in his absence
*Nadeem's friends at SunTrust, Kush, Marlis, Burton, Kristy and others who are caring for us and encouraging us
*my friend from 9th grade at Marist, Kristen, for sending a word of encouragement
*Luke Yarid, my friend Anne's son, for showing incredible faith
*our friends from UGA: Beth, Anne, Kathy, and Jill for praying and sending words of encouragement
*11 Alive for showing our story
*Fox 5 News and Chris Shaw for showing our story and helping us
*Senator Isakson, his chief of staff, Charles Spry, and Mr. Spry's supervisor for showing us amazing help and devotion in helping us secure our approval
*Jennifer Hayes and her colleagues at Senator Chambliss' office for their help and words of support
*my Jazzercise instructor, Marbry, for encouraging me that adoption is worth it
*Sheila Grant at the US Embassy in Dhaka for taking Nadeem's fingerprints and promptly FedEx'ing them again
*our friends across the globe that we've never met who we've heard are praying for us
*our behind the scenes friends who are praying and caring but we're not even aware of it
*Pastor Dennis from Victory World Church for his sermons that touched our lives and prepared us for this journey
*our beautiful daughter Kalina who teaches us about love, joy, and faith every day
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OF YOU! Please have some turkey for us and say thanks to God for taking care of us and giving us so many people who love us!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds."--Psalm 9:1
God loves you and so do I:)
It is hard to celebrate today without you here but we have so much to be thankful for this day and everyday.
Your blog is like a window into your hearts and we can all see the love and faith you have in your hearts for God and all of us.Thanks for being you.
It won't be long now until we see you face to face and get to meet Kalina!!
What a day of rejoicing that will be (like a small taste of heaven).
love you
Mom g/mother
Happy Thanksgiving, We love you and are praying for your return home very soon. We can't wait to meet Kalina. Also, tell Nadeen we have to play monoply at Christmas.
Dearest Nadeem,
We wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving and that you could be here with us. We are at Pupi's house having a lovely dinner. We all miss you very much. We are so proud of you and praying that all is going well and everything will be well when you come back.
Hoping for you safe return with Sherri and baby Kalina and we are looking forward to meeting our new addition to the family.
All the best for the holiday's and can't wait to see you soon.
With Much Much Love,
Your Family!!!!!!!!!!!
Javed Mamu, Laila Auntie, Sally Auntie, Afan, Kaiser, Mikhil and Neena
Happy Thanksgiving. Erin and I are hoping that you guys come home soon. We cannot wait to meet Kalina.
Sherri & Nadeem,
We too have many reasons to give thanks and continue to pray for your journey. Even when things seem down, there is always reason to give thanks....Kalina is proof of that. We continue to hold up all up in prayer every day and know you will be home soon. You have so many loved ones just waiting for you to return. Safe travels to both of you.
Love,
Susan & David:-)
Happy belated Thanksgiving, Sherri, Nadeem, and Kalina! So sorry that you couldn't be home to celebrate! But it certainly won't be long now. As evidenced in your Thanksgiving list, you have many, many wonderful people praying for all of you constantly.
Love all the recent pics of Kalina! She is such an adorable baby girl. Despite all the difficulties you are dealing with, you and Nadeem look glowingly happy in your pics! What wonderful parents you are!
Love, Jill
Post a Comment