Stolen Passport?!!

Just the other day, we had a customer in Uganda who called us because on their way to the airport, their passport and immunization card were stolen right from their car!!  On their way to the airport, they stopped for coffee with their driver, and when getting back into their car, they realized that while they were inside, their bags in the car were stolen, leaving them without the necessary documents needed to travel back home!!  YIKES!!  Talk about anyone's worst travel nightmare!!  SO, they called me to help them cancel flights and direct them on what to do.  SO, if you ever are in this predicament, here is what you do.

1.  Do not panic.  If you "lose it," you can easily become a vulnerable target, especially in a 3rd world country.  Remain calm and make your way to a police station to make a police report.  You will need a police report to show the airlines the reason you are not flying and also to show the embassy to get a new passport.

2.  Make sure you contact your travel agent to arrange the cancellation of your flights so that you don't lose all value of your tickets by being a "NO-SHOW" for your flights.  This is another nightmare you don't want.

3.  You will need a copy of your passport printed out to take with you to the Embassy in the country you are in.  So, if you are a US citizen, you will need to locate the US Embassy in the country you are in to make sure you report your stolen passport there.  The Embassy can usually get you a new passport within a day or two if you have the proper paperwork to give them.

4.  Make sure you explain to the airlines that you have lost your passport.  Often times, this will help you to be able to get a break on some of the re-booking fees if you need to cancel a flight.

5.  If you are reading this beforehand, make sure when preparing for your trip that you remember to keep a copy of your passport in your checked baggage.  This will help you in the event that you would ever lose a passport.

6.  There are some handy passport pouches that you can wear on your person.  Wearing your passport in a pouch close to your body under your clothes when traveling, is the best way to keep it with you and not in another area where it could be stolen or misplaced.

Keep in mind that passports are sold on the black market for 10,000's of dollars.  This is motivation for a thief to be stealing these things and even more motivation for you to be protecting your passport as if it were worth that much money to you, because in the event you would lose it, you would wish that you could pay as much money as you had in order to alleviate such hassles as there can be with the loss of a passport.

My customers actually were very glad that they filed the police report because the police told them that their passport had been returned!!  Truly this is a miracle of God and many of us were praying for them.  I am so glad they were able to travel home the very next day with minimal cost to change their flights.  They were very thankful to be home after such an ordeal!!

I hope this information is helpful and pray that this never happens to you!!!

Thanks so much!
Safe travels,
Tabitha :)
www.CheapMissionsTrips.com
www.AdoptionAirfare.com

Pray for a Desperate Dad

Please pray for a man named Royce Sigler, who has just gotten word that his two daughters who have been missing since 2008, are now alive and living in Russia.  We just helped him with his flights to go to Russia to pick them up.  They were kidnapped by their birth mother in 2008 when their father (Royce) had custody of them.  Their mother was from Russia, and after their divorce, she took the girls away (even without custody of them), to live in Russia and Royce never heard from them again.  He knew she kidnapped them and moved to Russia, but he had no way of knowing where they were or how he could ever find them again.  SO sad!!  He has been heartbroken for many years ever since.  He had not heard from them until about a month ago when he got a call that the birth mother died of cancer, and now he can come and get his girls.  You can imagine the emotions flooding through his heart!  He was so happy to hear this, and rushed over to Russia on the quickest flight we could book for him!!!  When he got there, he was planning to meet them and the grandmother, but on the appointment that they had with the grandmother and the attorney, she never showed up with them!!  Now, she is hiding the girls, and is not giving them up to Royce!  

Royce is now re-married and has a beautiful little girl.  He loves his daughters so much and wants to be able to get them back from Russia to bring them home to his new wife and baby and share the love with them that he has waited to bless them with for so long.  You know, there are many miracles in this story.  One of these is the miracle that since 2008, Royce never changed his number.  He was holding out hope that one day he would get news like this that his daughters were still alive.  These girls are now around 11 and 12.  Let's pray that they will make it home safe and SOON and will embrace the love of their father who is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet.  

This is a really hard situation and we need to pray for this man.  He has asked us to get the word out to everyone we can, so we are writing this blog to help as much as possible.  A really sweet adoption agency called Little Miracles, who we help with their travel, were the ones who asked me to step in and work on flights to help bring these babies home.  I was so happy to help any way we could.  And they have been on the top of our prayer list through their journey.

Please help us pray these little girls safely home!!!  I can not tell you the JOY that I will have to put their names on some tickets and get these precious girls home forever.  The Lord has a heart for the orphan, the abused, the forsaken child.

If you would like to help Royce or read any more on this, please visit their website here:  http://www.gofundme.com/bringthegirlshome

Until they are home,

Tabitha 

www.AdoptionAirfare.com

Adoption Airfare visits a customer's Airport Welcome!!!

On our way to DC for the STUCK screening and Step Forward for Orphans march, we realized that an adopting family who we had just issued tickets to come back to the US was flying into Dulles airport which was only 10 minutes from our hotel!!!  When they invited us to share in this moment with them, we were SO excited, honored, blessed and surprised to be able to share their airport welcome with them!!!!  Here is the video of this really special moment and we will never forget it!!  My husband did an amazing job on this video and really captured the heartbeat of this family.  Please get your tissues out... and ENJOY!!  

It is our prayer that many more families have this JOY of bringing their children home from all over the world through the miracle of ADOPTION!!!

God Bless!!

~Tabitha L.

www.AdoptionAirfare.com

Orphan Care and Adoption Retreat

I had the most amazing time at the Embracing Orphans (now Passion for Orphans) retreat in the beautiful Estes Park, Colorado.  Lisa Stucky from Mavuno Market, and all the incredible women who made this event possible did such a tremendous job.  It was like every detail was thought through so that we were able to come in and kick up our feet and enjoy EVERYTHING about our time together.  Most of us are mothers who almost don't know what to do when we don't have a million kiddos nibbling at our heels.  Some of us enjoyed just having a chance to catch up on some reading and hear our thoughts.  I think I can speak for many of the women at this event when I say that I came back refreshed, renewed, restored, and with a new Passion for our ministry in orphan care and our own adoption journey.  

I enjoyed the worship times together so much and had the opportunity to meet my office manager in person who I had never met before this trip!!  Her name is Sarah and she is my right hand agent and I love her to pieces!!  We were able to meet several families that we are helping with their travel who we had never before had the blessing to meet.  It was SO incredible and such a JOY!!!  I would post photos, but instead I have a video with my photos here so that you can take the opportunity to experience this with me...

I encourage mothers to take this opportunity to come out for these Passion for Orphans retreats.  You will be blessed beyond measure and experience the JOY it is to come together with other mothers who have REAL stories to share.  Let me tell you, we don't hold much back when we start sharing.  We may not all see eye to eye on every issue as it relates to orphan care and adoption, and we don't have to.  We all have a different story, a different journey, but the same love and passion for orphan children and adoption that brings us together.  The speakers shed light on the not-so-glamorous side of their journeys and allowed us an inside perspective that has changed many of our hearts and caused us to see beyond what we could see before.  I praise GOD for what I came away with from this retreat and I encourage every mother who has a passion for orphan care and/or adoption to come out to the next one and don't miss it!  Don't get too busy to come.  You will come away renewed, restored and refreshed.

God bless!
Tabitha :)
www.AdoptionAirfare.com

Motherhood is Deeper than Blood

Today beyond all the gifts and blessings, I can truly say I am blessed to be a mother to 6 children, some of which I have the privilege of parenting in our home, some far away.  The four children in our home blessed my heart today with their love and welcome to me as I came out from getting ready.  They welcomed me with hugs and little cards and things they made for me, as well as my dear husband.

Joshua wrote me two poems today!  I am going to type them here for you to be blessed too!!  He is my son (age 17) who I have adopted in my heart, even though he is not my biological son.  Motherhood is deeper than blood, just like the blood of Jesus is deeper than any human blood.  I praise GOD for the children HE has hand-picked for me.

Contentment

by Joshua Lovell

If my money is all spent, 

And if I have no friends or fame,

Still I will be content.

Even if no one knows my name,

or if on my birthday no one came,

Still I will be content.

For the Lord fills my cup,

Him I will lift up.

For while He hung naked and ashamed,

while spit and cursing at Him were aimed

Still He was content.

For all the joy set before Him, 

His cup was filled to the brim.

For He knew all the time with us that would be spent

So why can't we all just be content...?

Inspired by:  I Tim. 6:6-8

Mother's Day

by Joshua Lovell

Mom, on this special day

I am so happy to say

That you're my mother.

I'm very glad it isn't another,

for if it were

I'm absolutely sure

I would not be here

Nor so near;

And surely not able to say...

Happy Mother's Day!

These are especially special to my heart because over a year ago, we were praying for Joshua since he had gotten into trouble which led him into a Teen Challenge program in Reno, NV where he gave his heart to the LORD and has proven since to be totally transformed.  His life is a miracle, and I have reason to celebrate what the LORD has done in bringing him and Isaiah here to live with us and serve the LORD with us.  We now have four children in our home, and another we are in the process of bringing into our family through adoption from the DRC.  Hallelujah!!!!  

Charissa also blessed me with a beautifully hand knitted little head covering.  It was so beautiful and she worked so hard on it!!  Her card was filled with coupons that I will be sure to redeem too!!  ;)

Praise the LORD and I give HIM thanks for my dear children and family.

Motherhood is a blessing and an honor, no matter how it comes to you.  For all the adopting families out there and for all of the mothers who sacrifice and love each and every day...

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Love,

Tabitha :)

www.AdoptionAirfare.com

Faith vs. Fear

I had a dear customer I was working with on her travel to Africa who was being told some misinformation from a well-meaning relative right before her departure to Africa for a missions trip this week.  Her relative was adamant that she would be going through customs on her outbound flights into Africa, and I was trying to assure her that she would NOT have to go through customs on the outbound, but rather on the return.  I made sure to give her a second opinion, and also the number to the airline and she emailed me back saying that the airline said the same thing that I told her and that now she finally has peace of mind and has NO idea why her family member made her freak out!!!  Here was my reply...

I am glad that you were able to call them for your own peace of mind to check this out for yourself.  I hope you have a WONDERFUL trip and I know myself that sometimes I can battle with fear vs. faith.  I want to be trusting the LORD more and not listening to my own fears OR the fears of others.  I trust that the LORD will be WITH YOU and protecting you each step of the way as you are walking by faith in HIM.
If I might share with you....  I say all of this because I understand fear all too well.

We are adopting from the DRC, and it seems that people come out of the woodwork to put in their opinions, fears....  I think it is a battle that each adopting family faces.  The battle of faith vs. fear.  And in the long run, being anxious about our adoption is not going to help it along at all, not one bit!  There are lots of obstacles, and who knows?  It might take 3 years to complete, but we are stepping out by faith and praying that the Lord will bring us through to the finalization and beginning of our new life with our child HE wants to bless us with.

Learning a lot and just felt that I could share this with you.

God bless you and I will be praying for you on Saturday for your trip to go smooth sailing.... or flying I mean!!  ;)

Please keep in touch and let me know how things go... photos.... Let me know how I can pray for you....  This is our ministry and JOY, so please keep in touch.

Lilies of the field...

"Which one of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his splendor was not arrayed like one of these."  ~Matthew 6:27-29

Blessings and prayers,
Tabitha :)
www.adoptionairfare.com

Pregnant in My Heart

My heart is pregnant right now with love for a baby we have never even met.  The Lord has been working on both of our hearts toward adoption for quite some time now and just last night, I felt like my husband was really giving ME the nudge to get this thing rolling which is what I have been waiting for!! Praise the LORD!!!  SO, we are taking baby steps of faith right now.  I feel like my arms are empty with a deep longing to hold this child.  YES, it will likely be from the DRC.  We have met some amazing friends who have adopted from the DRC who we feel particularly knit together with in our hearts and are just seeking the Lord for the steps to take!

It is amazing to think that a child can be born in your heart and that deep seed of love that is planted by the Holy Spirit can grow and give birth one day to a child.  Truly this love is supernatural.  What will he or she look like?  How old will they be?  Will we adopt a sibling group?  How long is the wait?  How will we pay for it?  These are all questions that are left to be answered by the Lord in His perfect will and time.

But for now, our hearts are pregnant.  We are praying for this child or children who the Lord may have us adopt and rescue from being orphans.  We feel the incredible and massively STRONG current of the love of the LORD for these little children who the Lord has commanded us to care for from His word.  I am sure it is Him moving our hearts with His love for these little ones.  How will this play out?  I don't know.  Will there be road blocks?  I am sure.  But when we remember the road blocks that Jesus went through to rescue us, I am sure it will give us strength to keep pressing on with a love that endures all things, hopes all things, believes all things, never fails.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Orphan care and adoption are HIS heartbeat and I can FEEL HIS HEART beating inside of me.  Believe me, if I could tackle the whole world right now to bring this child home, I would do it.  But I can't.  I can only trust the One who has overcome the WORLD and I can be of GOOD CHEER as we wait upon the LORD with this deep aching in my heart and longing to be with my baby.  I can almost feel them in my arms.  And when I feel this way, it reminds me to PRAY for that one.  PRAY for safety.  PRAY for the Lord to bring them at the perfect time into our lives.  PRAY PRAY PRAY!!!  What if they say no and we won't be able to adopt?!!  Well, even if this never happens, what I feel in my heart right now is REAL and if we try and try and try again and nothing happens?  I just have to believe that this love is supernatural.  I have to believe that the Lord will honor any moves we make in the direction of orphan care and adoption.  I have to have HOPE and I have to believe.  Maybe the Lord wants us to feel this way to understand HIS incredible heart for orphan children?...  OR maybe, just maybe...  He IS doing this because He has a little one in need of a mother and father who He finds us suitable for.  If He sees fit, we will receive this child with surrendered hearts... With JOY, with incredible love to offer, to be a part of our family and to be hopefully also be a part of God's family forever.