8 hours to Amsterdam!! Here we go!! :)

I LOVE International travel! Just like heaven... Every nation, every tribe, one purpose! Except this time... Its just to get to Amsterdam.

Next time... It will be to Praise the Father and to live in perfect unity in our new perfect bodies!!! How awesome that will be!!

Glory to God in the Highest!!

Hey everyone! We are packed up and checked in! Waiting at our gate for our first leg to Atlanta! Very excited about having a nice peaceful night in Atlanta... Just the two of us!

It was a little sad to say bye to Caleb for the week, but he and Mimi are going to have an amazing week!!

Love you guys!! :)

(From update email sent out 2/3/11)

Hi Everyone!!

Just wanted to send a brief update on us!!

We leave Sunday for Ethiopia! This will be the first of two trips for us! We are thrilled to be able to finally touch our son, NASH, who has been our son since July. It's just amazing how the Lord can prepare our hearts to be so in Love with this child, whom we have never met!! We arrive in Ethiopia on Tuesday and will get to meet Nash on Wednesday. Nash is 6 years old and is just precious!! We are not allowed to send any pics or post them on the blog... but I GUARANTEE you... that when I'm legally able... Pics will be EVERYWHERE!! :) I will be blogging while we are in Ethiopia, and possibly emailing also. Please check in on the blog that I am trying diligently to keep updated. www.FryarsInTheField.blogspot.com

Here is a brief update on us and what the Lord has been doing in our lives over the past year! This is VERY BRIEF... we are amazed at how faithful the Lord has been to us!!! Truly HUMBLED and in AWE! Every few months He has shown us a little more of HIMSELF and a *SMALL* glimpse of some of the Amazing Things HE has in store for us!! He is LEADING US... bit by bit, piece by piece. *I am truly thankful that He does not show us he WHOLE Picture when we aren't ready for that!

If you had told me back in 1997 when Chris and I got married that I would have survived Cancer, changed nursing fields to Oncology, Adopted a son, traveled to Hong Kong, Chris & I would both leave EXCELLENT Financially secure jobs and a great house & life to go to Brazil to work as volunteers - fully supported financially by others, live in Brazil for 3 years, and NOW adopt another son and travel to Africa... I would have told you that you were CRAZY!! Absolutely Certifiably CRAZY! ...but you know... that is EXACTLY how the LORD works!!! He doesn't follow the rules of the "American Dream" He pushes us beyond our borders, beyond what "WE" are capable of... because that is where He wants us... He wants us DEPENDENT on Him alone! So that all we do and all that we are... REFLECTS HIM! This is how He is GLORIFIED!!!

The Lord has been so Good, He has been so Faithful!

We look at the next 6 months and see a time of massive change, great sadness, great joy, amazing new discoveries, and more ways for us to CLING to the CROSS!

Chris enrolled into the Master’s program at Mid-America in August and has been taking full time hours. He is loving his classes, instructors, and classmates. He is also involved in two very different ministries. Care Stone is a retirement center, in which Chris preaches every other Sunday. Caleb is a HUGE HIT with the residents!! :) Youth Villages is a residential center for very high risk youth. Chris has a group of 12-15 teenage boys who he is building relationships with and is allowed to preach every Saturday. The Lord is doing a MIGHTY work in the hearts of those boys—including 2 boys committing their lives to the Lord! Please pray for your new brothers in Christ! Chris also works full time at the NICS office! What a blessing he has to work with amazing Christian men and women! HE ALSO.... still does all the books for our school in Brazil! He is still working as the business manager in nearly the same capacity he did when we lived there! ...only no lunch duty!! - but he misses that the most! :)

Beverly is loving being back at the West Clinic. She really loves her job as a Research Nurse and her relationships with her patients. Taking 2 Cor 1:3-7 as her guide, she works diligently to share Christ’s comfort to those living & fighting cancer. We still try to keep in contact with our babies from Brazil who are now spread all over the world! Our hearts still have their fingerprints!!

Caleb continues to grow and mature into a precious child with a Love for Jesus. He is really thriving in Karate and is a Yellow belt now! He has an incredible teacher at school and he is doing very well. He loves math & science and everything “Boy”! His newest joy is telling jokes that he makes up. So Funny! He is excited about being a Big Brother, although he is anxious to get Nash here!! It's hard on a little guy to talk about something for 9 months!!

Mom has been slowly declining since last September. She was admitted to Hospice Care 3 weeks ago. My Dad is doing very well! He has an amazing outlook on things as he calls Mom "his mission field"! Dad says their Aide is amazing! She is very gentle and loving with Mom! Praise the Lord for amazing people that have been there to support Mom and Dad. Please continue to pray for her. She has comfort in knowing her Salvation is secure. I'm so thrilled that she will be able to discuss Prophecy with Isaiah and John THEMSELVES!! :) She has always LOVED Prophecy and the End Times. She loves the way the entire Bible points to Jesus and His Second Coming to take the Church as His Bride into Eternity!

We are cherishing our time together as a family & have been able to guard our family time effectively. We are thrilled about our church, Fellowship Memphis, & some exciting ministry opportunities ahead. We continue to pray that the Lord continue to use us in the fullest capacity.

All to His Glory alone.

We love you all dearly and THANK YOU so much for all your support, encouragement, and love that you have shown us over the years!! Many people have asked what they can do or how they can help. Once we get back from Ethiopia, we'll have a better idea of what is needed!! I will keep you posted! :)

Many Blessings!
~Beverly for the Fryar Family - Chris, Beverly, Caleb and Nash!

EPIPHANY!

I just took a look at my Lillypie Adoption Timeline in my header....

NEXT WEEK WILL BE EXACTLY 9 MONTHS SINCE WE STARTED PROCESS!!!

God doesn't work by coincidences! :)

Testing! This is likely how we will send messages while we are in Ethiopia. Love to all of you!! :)

Leaving in 1 week!!

We are so very excited!! We get to hold our precious 6 year old in 10 days!!

We got new pictures this past Friday!! WHAT A BLESSING! He is just so adorable! Can't wait to see how he "Tucks in" to our crazy family!

The Lord is so Good!!

---------------------------------------

I had a little breakdown this past weekend... I keep replaying all the horror stories in my head, I keep fretting over what I MUST know in order to be "ready" for all of this. I keep playing the WHAT IF game... While we have made preparations for MANY different scenarios, it just worries me.

I kept hearing the Lord tell me "Don't put Me in a Box! Don't tell me what I can do and what I can't do! Don't tell me how you think this is going to go down! I GOT THIS!! ... just BE STILL!"

As I'm reading through Genesis, everytime "WE" step in to Manufacture what we thought the Lord's plan was (see Abraham, Jacob, etc...) it all goes to BUNK! You'd think we'd learn something... ugggh.

Chris is always such an Amazing Blessing in my life... He reminds me that I can't "KNOW" everything there is to know... that Nash doesn't need me to "KNOW", he needs me to LOVE HIM! He needs me to be HIS MOMMY! He needs me to be his Cheerleader! He needs me to Be There - day in and day out!

I also got slapped a little with a very "off the cuff" statement that was made off handedly at our Adoptive Mom's Night Out this past Friday:

Our Highest Calling is *NOT* Parenting, being a Wife, being a Nurse, being a Daughter (Insert your own title).

Our Highest Calling is to LOVE THE LORD ABOVE ALL. Our Highest Calling is to BE HIS!! Our Highest Calling is to "DO" nothing and to just "Be"!

He continues to show me more of HIMSELF! What an Awesome God we serve. He is the FulFiller, the Sustainer, the PROMISE-KEEPER, and the Amazingly PATIENT One!

Make He make His Name GREAT among the Nations! All Glory to Him alone!

Waiting....

Only 22 more days until I get to hold my son.

It's all I can do to wait... Waiting is not something that I do very well. Not sure anyone quite has it mastered...but it's not something I do well.

I usually look at waiting as a task to be done. I wait from this date to this date. I can manage that. I can manage a wait that has a definite end. For example, once our Dossier went to Ethiopia, we were told it may be 4-6 weeks before it's registered and then we are assigned a court date. You better believe that once we got to 5 weeks, I was getting ANTSY! Up until the 5 week mark... I was fine! Then when we got the call in December that we were registered for Court, then it would 2-4 weeks before we had a date... I was FINE with that! Then, surprisingly, we got a call the NEXT WEEK with our Court Date!! YAY GOD!! But why wasn't it "YAY GOD" when our Dossier got sent, or our docs were registered? Just because they were "on time" or "LATE" does that not also require a "YAY GOD" from me???

I should not ONLY praise the LORD when things happen SOONER than expected. I should PRAISE HIM for every piece. That's a bit tougher. Just like many other parts of my life... How quickly I can Praise Him for the FUN STUFF, and how tough it is to Praise Him for the Not Fun stuff!! *ARE THEY NOT BOTH HIS?

Then, what is it about this definite end needed for my wait? Does it not say "Be still and Wait"? I'm sure that the Lord did not accidentally leave a stopping point off.... I think of Hebrews 11 and all those who came before who were unable to see the fulfilment of their waiting and working.

Have I become a task master? Seeking joy only in the completion?

My prayer is to ACTIVELY SEEK out the JOY in the WAITING, the JOY in the Interruption, the JOY in the Delay, the JOY in the Sadness, the JOY in the Trouble, the JOY in the Small Update, the JOY in the Journey... not only the JOY in the DESTINATION!

Most importantly... and ABOVE ALL... Should not the JOY OF MY SALVATION be the well-spring of my heart at any moment?

COURT DATE!!!

We were assigned a COURT DATE!!!

February 10th, 2011

We were so excited to get this news!!! We had hoped back in the summer to be traveling by now, but the Lord knows Best! Because our travel is in February, not high-traffic December, our plane tickets are not too expensive! We were able to use SkyMiles for Chris's ticket!! Awesome!! So Excited!!

Please pray for our travel. This first trip is required by the Ethiopian government. We will go to Court on the 10th and testify before the judge of our intention of adopting our son. This judge will decide if we can bring our son home to our family. Because this trip will be a lot of waiting and sitting and traveling, Caleb will not join us on this trip.

Once we are home from this trip, it will take anywhere from 4-6 and possibly 8 weeks to get all the paperwork completed to finalize the adoption and prepare his visa and passport to come to the States. Then we will be invited to come to the Embassy appointment. This will be our second trip. Caleb will definitely be with us for this trip!! AND, we'll come home as a Family of Four! God is so Good!

Caleb turns 7!!

So hard to believe that my Angel Baby is now 7 years old! That's SERIOUS!!! He's getting so big! We celebrated with a Pool & Pizza Party at the YMCA! It was perfect weather!!

We had so much fun!

Vacation - Quick, Refreshing, and Rewarding

We made a VERY Quick turn around trip to North Carolina to see our DEAR friends, Meg & Casey, who were home from Peru for the summer. We served with them in Brasil and love them DEARLY! We were able to visit them at Meg's parent's lake house, which is amazing! Meg's parents were there with us too, and it was so great to get to know them better also.

Caleb had so much fun digging up muscles, riding on the Jet Ski - which he got to drive!, tubing with Meg, loving on Meg's mom, riding in the boat - which he got to drive! Meg's mom and dad completely took Caleb in and loved on him as a grandson! Although we were only there like a day and a half, it was so refreshing.

On the way back, we stopped in Gatlinburg, TN. Caleb got to chase the chickens at the Dixie Stampede! He was a bit nervous, but is so proud of his medal! He was in AWE of all the horses and then entire show. COMPLETELY WORTH THE MONEY!!! Chris was most excited about Bubba Gump Shrimp Company! He got a great hat "Run, Forrest, Run" (as posted previously - he's training again for another marathon!). It was a LONG drive in a short 4 days, but totally worth it. AND... Praise the LORD for portable DVD players!

MATCHED: In our Hearts and on Paper

We received "THE CALL" yesterday from our Social Worker!!!

WE ARE MATCHED TO OUR NEWEST SON!!!!!!!

The 'decision' wasn't supposed to be made until Monday by the Ethiopia team in Grand Rapids, but they decided to meet on Friday.

We have been MATCHED to the most precious little boy! His personality just shouts from his pictures and his profile! We can not post any pictures of him, but we have them with us 24/7 so just tackle us for them!! LOL!!

The greatest thing is that we had the Most Amazing, God-Given PEACE about him. We know that the Lord has been preparing this day since the beginnng of time. Imagine His joy as He personally knit our son together in his first mother's womb... "Just wait, my son, I have great plans for you... Plans to give you a Future and a Hope!" I treasure the thought of my Lord and Saviour joyfully loving on our son, BOTH of them!

God is so Good! He does not forget that we are like grass; yet loves and cherishes us to provide with the Joys of our hearts!

...speechless...

Paper Pregnancy!! :)

Our Newest Child is also "on the way"!! Not exactly in a biological way... but "on the way" none-the-less! We are Adopting again!! We started paper work in May and just finished our last Home Study visit. Next up is Fingerprinting and USCIS approvals. While in Brazil, as many of you know, we built some incredible relationships with our African families. We love their culture, their love for family, and their deep Spiritual roots. We are adopting from Ethiopia. Bethany Christian services has an office in Ethiopia and we feel confident in their ability to navigate families safely and ethically through the adoption process. Our social worker, Debby, is incredible and we truly view her as a family friend! The office gets upset whenever we come without Caleb!! We don't have any other information at this time. We are requesting a child from ages 2-6, boy or girl. We plan on choosing a waiting child. Caleb is very excited about being a big brother. He changes each day with whether he wants a baby "that will fit in my hand like this" or a bigger baby "that can play on the slides with me." He says he "gets kind of bored being the only kid in the house." Oh Baby... just wait!!! LOL! We DO Know, and we ARE preparing for what will change our family completely. We are reading many books, talking with many people, and working on expanding our borders to be able to prepare ourselves for being a multicultural family. Naively, we thought we already were!! We have viewed our family as being bi-racial with Caleb home; however we were very surprised to learn that few others actually viewed our family this way. It was not until we spoke of adding an African child to our family did so many concerns begin to arise. We have received many mixed reactions, but the Lord's confirmation in our hearts has made us that much MORE excited about the Perfect Child HE will bring!!! Our families and our close friends know that our hearts have been widened so much since our experience in Brazil, that it is not entirely shocking to them! The Lord is working Powerfully around us in the hearts of so many people. He is so amazing!!!

Mini Update

Some of these things may be slightly redundant... This is copied from an update email that was sent out.

Thought we'd send out an update as to what is going on with us and our family!

Caleb is doing Awesome! (*I knew I had to start with him!!) He finished up the 1st grade at Dexter Elementary in Cordova. He had some big adjustments to go through... being in classes of 5 to a class of 18. He did well once he got a bit settled. Very true to his name: Strong and Courageous!! He played Soccer for the Y and Loved it! He was a STAR on the Orange Tigers team! Amazing how much skill he learned in Brazil! We also started going to the Chinese Baptist Church on Friday nights for Awanas (and adult Bible Study). It was a great experience. Caleb's pediatrician was our adult teacher, and the kids program was really great! We couldn't go in May-June because of Soccer, but are very excited to start back in August. He has had the Best Summer at the YMCA, swimming every day, playing basketball, and playing!! He has been loving it! He has been growing like a weed!!! Lost some teeth, getting some more in and all that fun stuff! He will start the SECOND GRADE... the Second Grade... that's serious! That's like the NEXT LEVEL.. I told him he now has to start SHRINKING in age instead of growing. Please pray for him to get adjusted back to school quickly and that his teacher is full of Grace! He is also looking forward to playing Soccer again this fall, and maybe some Basketball this winter.

Chris is also doing Awesome! He is so happy to be working for NICS in a Godly environment. He really loves the people he works with!! He has been continuing all his duties from Brasilia International school since we arrived back home!!! It has been very difficult and challenging in many ways, but he is very thankful that the Lord was able to use him during this time of transition for the school! The Lord has provided a new business manager for BIS that will be going to Brasilia in August, Lord willing! We are praying there are no visa issues. It is not known at this time if he will be completely "hands-off" of the BIS stuff for this fall. Please pray for this issue. Chris has not been able to have full closure. Chris also finished up his final Undergrad classes this past June and He GRADUATED!!! I am so proud of his patience and endurance through ALL!! And now to the next school... Chris is SO COMPLETELY READY to start School!!! He will be starting Seminary in August for his Masters in Christian Education!! He loves youth, and he feels the Lord confirm His calling on his life almost daily. He knows that the Lord will use him as a powerful vessel for HIS Message of Freedom and Salvation to youth FAR and WIDE!!! We don't know what the Lord will do with all of this... but we wait in Grateful Expectation for what HE will do!! Chris is also training again for another marathon! The St. Jude marathon will be December 4th. He's already starting to lose his toenails again and blisters upon blisters. I love to watch him get so determined and be able to persevere! You were right, DAD... He is a "PERSISTENT" one!! :)

I (Beverly :) am also doing well! I was graciously allowed to return to my previous job as a Research Nurse at the West Clinic. I truly love my job, my boss, and the organization I work for. I love building relationships with my patients and being able to "encourage, as I have been encouraged" as these brave souls encounter this daily fight with Cancer. I thank the Lord for his Blessing of Cancer in my life to be able to minister to them. I know, full well, that I could not do this job without a personal LIVING relationship with the Savior, the Healer, and the Protector! To be able to say that Death is NOT Defeat, nor is it the End. Please pray for my boldness to share the Gospel at my job and to be an encourager. While Chris is preparing and training for the marathon, I'm trying to lose weight and get healthier also. I LOVE plugging in my John Piper as I pound away at the treadmill. Not quite as often as I'd wish, but I have found so much encouragement and rekindled fire listening to Piper! His preaching just pounds out the Truth, unashamedly and not worried about being Politically correct! He always points straight to the Heart of Jesus and to a new realization about Himself!!

My Mom is doing well! Thank you so much to all of you for praying for her and asking about her frequently! She continues on chemo, but is tolerating it very well! She's down about a week or so after chemo, but has been able to continue to lead her Ladies Bible Study on Tuesday nights. She is such a blessing to all of those sweet ladies. She loves teaching in any form, but teaching the WORD is something she does with PASSION!! The church has really rallied behind them and is supporting them! They bring weekly and sometimes daily food and sweets! Their presence really brings joy to my parents. Dad is doing great, also. He has turned into Mr. Super Helper!! It's been so neat to see him adapting and growing into their new routines. He is a Chuck Missler SUPER-FANATIC! Truly though... you guys gotten listen to his "Learn the Bible in 24 hours". He's a teacher, not a preacher, and my dad Loves him. You can check out Missler on www.BlueLetterBible.org (just for you, dad!)

We had an awesome time on vacation recently. We went to North Carolina to visit Casey & Megan, our friends from Brasilia that are now in Peru. It was so great to see them! They have been dear friends for a long time! Please pray for them as they head back for another year in Peru.

BIS will now be led by Jeff Lancaster, a dear friend and an awesome Man of God. Please pray for him and the new Admin team as they prepare to lead this next year. Enrollment is in desperate need of increasing!! Please pray that the Lord will open the flood gates of the international community in Brasilia to come to a place of LIVING WATER that can Refresh even the driest soul. Please pray!!! One of our dearest, most special Pakistani families had a tragedy recently. Their father died after some heart complications. This Muslim family held 4 children of whom we were EXTREMELY close! The Mother would even babysit Caleb for us on in-service days. Our greatest prayer is that in this time of urgent need, they were able to Taste and See the Awesome Comforting Power of JESUS in our BIS Staff. Please pray for them, and "MY GIRLS" as they have returned to Pakistan last week to take the body home. The oldest son is in England at college and was so sad to not have seen his dad before he passed. We really really love this family... please petition the Father for their lives!!

So that's a little update on us. We would love to hear from you, and would love to get together with those we haven't seen since we've been back.

The Lord is so Faithful. He loves us so dearly. He is Good!!

So Much Love to you all!!
~Beverly - for the FRYAR FOUR!!! :)

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. I Peter 1:3-9

**Update!!**

Oh Dear.... I've been Missing in Action for several months! Thank you so much to all of you that have visited, and please forgive my absence. In fact, it's actually NOT because I don't have anything to write about... quite to the contrary! The Lord has given me multiple things to write about... I will be updating (and Back-dating) this blog this weekend! I already know the thoughts I want to express on at least 4 of them!!

A small tidbit...

Chris GRADUATED a few weeks ago!! He has worked full time and studied full time for the past 2 1/2 years to finish up his Bachelor's Degree! I am so incredibly proud of him!!! Here is a pic from the Ceremony (more about that in a bit)