The Great Composer

In 2013 my brother's wife Cathi was pregnant with twin girls.  She had some complications in her pregnancy which left her on bed rest in the hospital during the last several weeks before their birth.  It was a stressful time for them, as well as the rest of the family.  I prayed A LOT for the babies and Cathi.  

You may have heard of sympathy pains before.  Sometimes it's experienced by men when their wives are pregnant or giving birth.  Throughout Cathi's pregnancy I had a recurring dream that I was pregnant with twins....and they were boys.  At the time I assumed this was because I had been worrying so much about Cathi and my nieces.  This worry must have been weighing on my subconscious.  The dreams came regularly, and they were always the same.  I was always pregnant with twin boys.  In fact, I was convinced that my sweet little nieces were actually going to be boys!  

While Cathi spent weeks in the hospital, the rest of the family tried to guess her delivery date.  One night in particular, I had my same recurring dream, twin boys again, and they were born in February.  I recall telling Cathi about this dream, trying to relate it to her pregnancy, and Cathi telling me there was no way she was going to wait that long!  Her babies were due late December/early January.  Of course I must have dreamed about babies in February because my sweet Abby's birthday is in February.

On December 26, 2013 my nieces were born and sometime thereafter my recurring dream finally stopped.  But I awoke this morning thinking about that dream.  And at 6:30am I was tempted to text Cathi to see if she remembered, but I thought that was a bit too early for a "Hey you remember that crazy dream I used to have" kinda text.

At this point you are probably wondering what any of this has to do with anything.  Well, in 2013, our babies, the TWIN BOYS we are adopting were growing in their mother's womb.  And their birthday, is in FEBRUARY!  While I was dreaming about giving birth to twin boys, halfway across the world they were about to be born, in Poland.  God is such an amazing composer, writing every detail into our lives!  

Psalm 150

1 

Praise the Lord.[a]

Praise God in his sanctuary;

    praise him in his mighty heavens.

2 

Praise him for his acts of power;

    praise him for his surpassing greatness.

3 

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,

    praise him with the harp and lyre,

4 

praise him with timbrel and dancing,

    praise him with the strings and pipe,

5 

praise him with the clash of cymbals,

    praise him with resounding cymbals.

6 

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Got Books?

Got Books?

Our used book fundraiser is well under way!  We have received donations from several families and have raised $202 from used books so far!!!  We are still accepting books to help us reach our January goal.  

Got Cookies?

White's Auction hosted our first baked goods raffle Friday night.  We successfully raised $106 from the raffle.  They will continue to host a raffle for us every week!  We are in need of baked good donations.  Sign up at TakeThemAMeal.com we are in need of baked goods every Thursday to be raffled on Friday.  Free on Friday night?  Visit White's Auction :) 

Our Hearts Grew 2 Sizes

One week before Thanksgiving our adoption agency shared a post on Facebook about twin baby boys in Poland who would be separated if a family was not found for them soon.  This was like a last call, and their files had been sent to several different adoption agencies.  On a crazy whim, we contacted the social worker about the boys.  By Thanksgiving, a copy of our home study was in Poland for review, and we had received the news that the boys were still available.  While the social worker had received several inquiries, we were the only ones to proceed, sending our files to Poland.  What comes next is complicated.

The boys are not officially ours, we have not received an official acceptance letter and will not receive one until our Dossier is received in Poland.  Right now we are working as fast as we can to update our home study (everything was specific to Ethiopia before, a different country means different demands).  Once our home study is complete, we will file for immigration again.  We had filed an I-600A for Ethiopia and Poland requires and I-800.  I don't understand all the reasoning behind these little details, we are just pushing through and doing what is required.  After we file for I-800 status, we will finally be able to send our Dossier to Poland.  And then we will wait for an "official" acceptance.  

In so many ways, it feels like we are in limbo, rushing to complete things while we still don't know anything is completely certain.  At the same time, my heart rests knowing that God led us to this and WE are the ONLY family pursuing the boys.  Next week is Christmas, and we are still the only family that has submitted paperwork to Poland in hopes to adopt these babies.  So we continue to push through as though they are OURS.  

Tomorrow we make one huge step towards completing the new home study, one final home study visit!  Prayers from our sweet friends that we might wrap up all the loose ends quickly!

Moving forward, we need to raise $19,973 in a short 4 months.  We anticipate to travel to Poland late Spring.  On top of that we will be saving for our travel expenses.  We are praying Uncle Sam has a nice tax refund in store for us to cover most of the travel costs.  And here is where I ask all of you to help us.  Everyone can do something to help us bring the boys home, no matter how small or meek it may seem.  We have lots of needs that we need help with over the next few months.

• PRAY.  We need prayer warriors.  Pray for the babies.  Pray for our family.  Pray for our finances.
• Donations.  We are setting up a fund with Lifesong where our family and friends can make TAX DEDUCTIBLE financial donations.  More to come on this!
• GRANTS.  We are applying for every adoption grant we can find.  Pray that we will be awarded grants!
• STUFF.  We will most likely have a yard sale of some sort early spring.  If you have any stuff you would like to donate, we would love to take it off your hands!  One man's trash is another man's treasure!
• CRAFTS.  Calling all of my crafty friends -  We will be raffling items at White's Auction in Bloomfield every Friday night.  Your crafty donations are needed!
• BAKED GOODS.  I have a sweet tooth but was not blessed to be a baker.  We will be raffling items at White's Auction in Bloomfield every Friday night, that includes baked goods.  We would love your baked good donations!  
• SPRING CONSIGNEMNT.  The spring consignment sale is coming up quickly.  I am seeking donations of kids clothes, toys, and baby items to sell at the Sweet Repeats Consignment sale in the Spring!  
• BABY BOY STUFF.  We have specific needs for the boys.  We specifically need a crib and mattress, crib sheets, high chairs, and infant toys.  We will also need clothes but at this time we don't have a realistic idea of what size?!  Hand-me-downs are welcome and appreciated!  

Please consider one or more of these ways above to support us!  Our financial goal for January is to raise $4643 to cover our next payment.

Merry Christmas and may you be Blessed in 2015!

When God's Plans are not MY Plans

A little over a year ago, we felt God's call to adopt.  Since then we have faced 3 major road blocks. 

1. Ethiopia shut down the adoption process for 7 long months for investigations.  This made us anxious but we faithfully waited,

2. Ethiopia wait time is up to 5 years, verses the previous 18-24 month wait.  Just before sending out our dossier, we were informed that the wait time changed.  With the adoption process being on such rocky ground, and knowing that Ethiopia is a non-hague country, we decided we can not proceed with International adoption at this time.  We started Foster Care training in hopes to foster-to-adopt.

3. Our sweet daughter has been sick.  Just before our last day of Foster training, Abby was given a possible diagnosis of Celiac disease.  Further testing and diet changes have confirmed that she does indeed have celiac.  We are thankful to the Lord that this is a very manageable condition, and we are already seeing improvement with her new diet changes.  We also know that these changes are very stressful for our family, especially the kids who can no longer eat some of their favorite foods, and coping with the fact that this is a lifelong condition.  With all of this stress in our home, it's not the right time for us to pursue foster care.

So now what?  Honestly, we don't know.  From all of the training, and home visits, and background checks, we are certified to provide respite care for other foster families.  So while we are not able to pursue our original plans, we are able to bless several foster families in our church.  

Today I leave you with this beautiful verse:

The Road Ahead

Where We've Been:

We have spent the last year training, completing piles of paperwork, and preparing to adopt from Ethiopia.  God was preparing our hearts for something BIG and we felt confident.  Then the Ethiopia program was placed on hold for 7 long months with no adoptions being processed.  Orphanages were investigated.  And laws were changed.  The wait time to adopt a younger child from Ethiopia increased from 18-24 months to 3-5 years.

Where We Are Now:

My heart aches for the Ethiopia children waiting in these orphanages and all of the families waiting to adopt.  When our social worker confirmed the wait time is up to 5 years I wanted to cry, mourning for the loss of something I never had.  Our paperwork has not been submitted to Ethiopia yet so we are closer to the 5 year spectrum.  After lots of prayer we decided the Ethiopia program is not right for our family at this time.  We may revisit this later, but right now we can't continue to invest in a program that has experienced so many changes in such a short time.  How much more will change over the course of 5 years?

The Road Ahead:

We still have a heart for adoption, and adoption is still in our future.  We started training for foster-adoption with our local state program.  And we are praying that God will lead us in the way that we should go.

What About The Adoption Funds?

Let's face it, I know some of you are wondering this, I mean we just did a t-shirt fundraiser.  Honestly, we don't have much in the adoption fund.  Most of our funds have already been paid to the agency and there are no refunds at this point in the program.  What little we have in funds will help us prepare for foster care (provide a bed, clothes, etc for the child) and we will donate some funds to other families in the adoption program or to our church adoption fund.  We will continue to support International adoption although we are not currently pursuing International adoption.

DO SOMETHING

This Memorial Day weekend we received our completed home study and mailed out our I-600A application!  This is a HUGE milestone for us!  While we wait for our I-600A approval we will be completing our Dossier to send to Ethiopia.  It is so great to be moving forward!!! Moving forward also means more fundraising!  We hope to raise $3083 by the time our I-600A is completed, in about 90 days.

We created t-shirts on booster.com as a way to raise funds for our next payment.  The front of the t-shirt reads "DO SOMETHING", inspired by Matthew West's song here.  The back of the shirt quotes Matthew 25:35, a verse that I feel truly reflects adoption!  Shirts are $15 each and can be purchased online for an additional $5 shipping fee.  If you are interested in purchasing a shirt, contact me OR order online here!

Please be in prayer that God will continue to provide for our family!  Blessings to all of you!

I Could Never Do That...

So often when we tell people about our adoption, we hear the words "I could NEVER do that..."

"I could NEVER adopt"

"I could NEVER get on a plane and fly across the ocean"

"I could NEVER go to Ethiopia"

"I could NEVER do that...."

For those of you think you could "NEVER do that" or wonder what kind of crazy mess my family has gotten into, here is a brief look at WHY we are able to do THIS

Imagine one of your children is lost in a far away land....don't imagine a child you have never met, imagine the child you hold in your arms each day (for me it's Abby or Ashton)...she is hungry and scared....and she needs YOU to come to her.  You are scared of flying, scared of the unknown of this faraway land, but your child is waiting for you...she is lost and crying out for Mom and Dad to come to her.  Would you hesitate to get on a plane and go to your child?  NO!  You would make a mad rush to the airport and plead with the lady at the ticket line to get you there NOW.  There would be no time to think about the fear that would normally consume you.

It's exactly like that....but instead of imagining Abby or Ashton lost in this faraway land, there is a beautiful child that God has chosen for us, who is hungry and scared, and waiting for Mom and Dad.... 

 

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in" 

 ~Matthew 25:35