It's very bittersweet for me to write this message. I know that many have already stopped following our blog since we're home and our adoption journey has ended. After praying and waiting for more to share, I've found that the blog was truly just for a season. I enjoyed writing and sharing with you all so much. I, too, will have withdrawal from the daily encouragement from home during our challenging time.
Our Celebration of Praise and Worship was wonderful-a memory to treasure! Thanks to Pastor Ken Rucker for opening his church, New Branch, for us to gather. He also gave a lovely opening statement and prayer. Thanks to Angela Brannen for organizing our event. Thanks to Jim and David Brannen, our fabulous musicians, and Leslie Pennington, our talented singer. Thanks to all of you who spent your Saturday afternoon with us praising God and welcoming Kalina to the US!
For those of you who couldn't come, I'll share the events of the day. After the opening prayer, the musicians led us in singing many songs that Nadeem, Kalina, and I sang regularly in Bangladesh, mainly in our bedroom or on the rooftop including "Jesus, What a Beautiful Name" (with our own lyrics because we couldn't remember all the real ones!), "How Great is Our God", and "Shout to the Lord." The children in the crowd all came on stage to sing "Jesus Loves Me" to Kalina. This used to be her nap time song. Now, I can't sing to her at all before bed because she becomes wide awake and turns to see what I'm doing. Hardly relaxing! We shared a slide show of our trip. When Kalina's visa appeared on the screen, everyone applauded! My dear friend and Kalina's Godmother, Lisa Slusher, gave our closing prayer. Afterwards everyone greeted Kalina and enjoyed refreshments. We'll remember this day for years to come!
Nadeem and I also shared what God laid on our hearts. For Nadeem, he shared the importance of praying without ceasing. In Bangladesh, he and I prayed together morning, noon, and night-sometimes more. We also prayed separately. That was vital for keeping our eyes focused on God. I shared that it's so easy to get caught up in busyness here in the USA. It's critical that we all spend time with God every day. Right now we're so blessed to be home but struggling to find our balance as I'm sure you all can relate! One of the treasures of our adoption journey was the gift of time. We had time to spend with each other, Kalina, and God. At the time we wanted desperately to come home and couldn't fully appreciate it. Now I can see what God gave us.
Kalina is doing so well here! She has quickly adjusted to the new time zone, and she loves her home! She's becoming even healthier as she thrives in this environment. She welcomes all visitors and loves going out on errands to see people. She's a joy! For those of you in this area, please come see us!
I'll close by saying that when your faith wavers, please remember our story and remember that God is alive and well, still doing miracles! God bless you all!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
You're Invited to a Celebration of Praise and Worship!
Mark your calendar! This Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. there will be a Celebration of Praise and Worship at New Branch Church in Hamilton Mill to thank God for delivering Nadeem, Sherri, and Kalina Kaiser home from Bangladesh! Please join us in singing and giving praise to God! If you wish, please bring snacks or drinks to share afterwards. If you can't join us in person, please thank God wherever you are! We love you all and are so thankful to be home!
New Branch Community Church
2155 Pine Rd.
Dacula, GA 30019
New Branch Community Church
2155 Pine Rd.
Dacula, GA 30019
Monday, December 29, 2008
On Fox 5 Again!
Sunday afternoon, Chris Shaw, reporter from Fox 5 News in Atlanta, visited us to do a follow up story on our adoption journey. He and his assistant Tim were so kind, and we were very pleased at the way they portrayed our story on TV. Please go to the Fox 5 website to read and/or view the news piece. We give thanks to God for our happy ending!
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
A Fight to the Finish
Merry Christmas! We hope that you and your family had a wonderful holiday! We will always remember this special time when God delivered us from Bangladesh to celebrate the birth of Christ with our family and to start our life with Kalina here in the USA! Until the last moment, it was a fight to the finish to come home. The day before we left, Nadeem went to the Emirates office to pay for the tickets he had reserved. He had to wait until we had Kalina's visa to do this. When they saw her visa, they said that he couldn't purchase a ticket to Dubai for her because the visa said "America". There are no direct flights from Bangladesh to Atlanta! He said that he could see everything crumbling before him, so once again he surrendered all to God. After spending over two hours talking to the Emirates employees, Nadeem finally got our tickets home!
We have seen God's hand on us in so many ways as we journeyed home. First, one of Nadeem's uncles sent his co-worker, an airlines employee, to help us navigate through immigration and Customs at the Dhaka airport. We had heard that they could give us a hard time, so we were grateful for this help. Prior to our trip, I had prayed about our travel home. Nadeem and I were both worried about traveling with a baby. Kalina was the perfect traveler-better than Nadeem and me! She thoroughly enjoyed the experience-smiling at everyone, looking out the window at all the sights, and wearing the flight attendant's hat for a photo. The passengers on both flights complimented her on being such a good baby. Our luggage all srrived safely in Atlanta. Kalina immediately went to Atlanta time and understood that her nighttime had now changed.
The day that we left Bangladesh, the violent riots started. We've received daily emails from the US Embassy in Dhaka advising Americans to leave the area if at all possible. God delivered us at the right time!
Our homecoming was glorious! My mom and Hasan met us at the airport, and we felt like a dream had come true! When Nadeem and I first walked into our house, we felt like we had stepped into a fairy tale. Our house looked so bright and warm and cozy that we could barely believe that we live in such a beautiful home. Since we've been home I have cried tears of joy so many times. We feel like we've been gone a million years and only a day all at once. We've marveled over everything-warm showers, our own bed, a washing machine, a dishwasher-seeing everything through fresh and grateful eyes. We were both so excited to see our cats who gave us shocked and hesitant looks initially but soon realized that truly we had returned. They have both welcomed Kalina as part of our family. Our younger cat, Tabitha, has had the role of the baby of the family, and she has shown jealousy when visitors have brought their babies. I was a little worried about her, but she has licked Kalina and bumped her head against Kalina's tiny hands to get Kalina to pet her.
Kalina absolutely loves her new home and the family and friends that she has met so far. If you haven't seen us yet, we hope that you will visit soon. We are still planning the Celebration of Praise and Worship which will be in the Gwinnett area during the first part of January. Stay tuned for more news.
I've received several questions about whether or not I'll continue this blog. Only God knows the answer to that question! I have some photos to post in the near future, and I'll give details about the upcoming celebration, so be sure to check for the next week or so. After that, I'll see how God guides me.
We're so thankful for the prayer support you all gave while we were gone, and we're equally thankful for the warm welcome we're receiving as we adjust to being parents in America!
We have seen God's hand on us in so many ways as we journeyed home. First, one of Nadeem's uncles sent his co-worker, an airlines employee, to help us navigate through immigration and Customs at the Dhaka airport. We had heard that they could give us a hard time, so we were grateful for this help. Prior to our trip, I had prayed about our travel home. Nadeem and I were both worried about traveling with a baby. Kalina was the perfect traveler-better than Nadeem and me! She thoroughly enjoyed the experience-smiling at everyone, looking out the window at all the sights, and wearing the flight attendant's hat for a photo. The passengers on both flights complimented her on being such a good baby. Our luggage all srrived safely in Atlanta. Kalina immediately went to Atlanta time and understood that her nighttime had now changed.
The day that we left Bangladesh, the violent riots started. We've received daily emails from the US Embassy in Dhaka advising Americans to leave the area if at all possible. God delivered us at the right time!
Our homecoming was glorious! My mom and Hasan met us at the airport, and we felt like a dream had come true! When Nadeem and I first walked into our house, we felt like we had stepped into a fairy tale. Our house looked so bright and warm and cozy that we could barely believe that we live in such a beautiful home. Since we've been home I have cried tears of joy so many times. We feel like we've been gone a million years and only a day all at once. We've marveled over everything-warm showers, our own bed, a washing machine, a dishwasher-seeing everything through fresh and grateful eyes. We were both so excited to see our cats who gave us shocked and hesitant looks initially but soon realized that truly we had returned. They have both welcomed Kalina as part of our family. Our younger cat, Tabitha, has had the role of the baby of the family, and she has shown jealousy when visitors have brought their babies. I was a little worried about her, but she has licked Kalina and bumped her head against Kalina's tiny hands to get Kalina to pet her.
Kalina absolutely loves her new home and the family and friends that she has met so far. If you haven't seen us yet, we hope that you will visit soon. We are still planning the Celebration of Praise and Worship which will be in the Gwinnett area during the first part of January. Stay tuned for more news.
I've received several questions about whether or not I'll continue this blog. Only God knows the answer to that question! I have some photos to post in the near future, and I'll give details about the upcoming celebration, so be sure to check for the next week or so. After that, I'll see how God guides me.
We're so thankful for the prayer support you all gave while we were gone, and we're equally thankful for the warm welcome we're receiving as we adjust to being parents in America!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
We're home!!!!!
We arrived safely in Atlanta at 7:15 a.m. on Christmas Eve after 20 hours of flying halfway around the world. Kalina is a wonderful traveler, much better than Nadeem and me, I must say. Nadeem immediately sped off to work. His position is safe, and he received a warm welcome from everyone at SunTrust. We feel like we've stepped into a fairy tale. We are so thankful to be back! I will give a more detailed update later, but I wanted you all to know that we're here! Praise God! Merry Christmas to all of you!
Monday, December 22, 2008
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