We Got A Date!

We were informed by our adoption agency that the ICBF has set up an appointment for us to meet Claudia.  As I was typing this post for the first time, we were to meet her on the 17th but we were able to get that date to changed so now we will get to her country on January 9th or 10th and meet Claudia on the 11th!  That is less than one month away!  We will meet her along with her psychologist and social worker that have been working with her.  They will let us know all they can about her.  We may even be blessed enough to get a book from her foster family describing her likes and dislikes.  There is s tiny chance that we may be able to speak to her foster mother as well.  We will get to ask any questions we might have and then Claudia is to stay with us at our hotel for the "bonding period."  Our agency has tried to prepare us for Claudia's mourning of her foster family.  I do not think that anything will prepare me for that.  I pray it is not terrible, that we are able to comfort her and that she will bond quickly with us.  We have been warned that she may be inconsolable for the first few days, that is going to be heartbreaking for us, not to mention Claudia.  We pray that her transition into a forever family is smooth. 

We have to send out a big check today to our agency to pay for her Visa, courier fees and additional fees for our documents to be translated as our first set of documents sent to her country have now expired.  Could you please keep our financial situation in your prayers.  Our agency is unsure of how long Jason will have to remain in-country due to the recent strike of the judicial system.  The courts open back up on January 15th and our agency says we should be prepared to have to stay in country longer.  The longer we are in country, the more expensive it will be.  As of right now we are about $8000 short as we have had several of additional expenses since documents have expired.  We would appreciate your prayers and help spreading the word about our financial aid.  We hate to be a burden on others but we cannot do this on our own.  Thank you all so much for your support.  It is truly paying off, we are almost there!  Thank you all!

Waiting for our travel date

We are still waiting to know the date that ICBF has set for us to first meet Claudia.  It seems that things are finally coming together. We have a conference call with our agency on Sunday afternoon to go over all of the specifics of what happens from here on out.  We did get a letter from the facilitator in Claudia's country describing what the process will be like once we get there.  I will give you all a run down:

We got our Article 5 which states that a visa will be granted for Claudia to come to the US.  That is step one of the adoption process (What!? I feel like we have been through a hundred steps already...!) 

Next, we travel to her country to start the legal adoption process.  One of us (Jason) will have to stay in the country for 5-7 weeks while everything is completed.  Once we get there, we get to meet Claudia in her region and have a 5-7 business day bonding/integration period which will be under the supervision of the ICBF (I have no idea how this works since we will have Claudia with us living in our hotel...) 

After the bonding period is over, ICBF will issue a certificate to file with our adoption petition in court.  We will then have to sign a power of attorney and I will have to sign a permission form for Claudia to leave the country with Jason.  Our adoption petition will be filed in court by our attorney.

The the judge will then issue an adoption decree stating that we are Claudia's legal parents, this could take 3-4 weeks.  During this waiting time we have to take Claudia across her country to get her TB testing done and then return back to her region. 

After the adoption decree is obtained, we have to apply for her new birth certificate with us listed as her parents!  We will also have to get pictures for Claudia's Passport and US visa.  We can then get her passport which will allow her to travel to the US.  Along with the passport, we must get her visa.  In order to get this, she must have a medical appointment with a specific doctor.  We then need to pick up our conformity letter and go to the US consulate to apply for her visa.  This is the LAST STEP!  Once we get her visa, we can come home!

Wow, that seems like a lot, but we are nearing the end of the adoption.  Please pray that everything proceeds smoothly and that we will be the proud parents of Claudia soon!

We've got news, and it's good!

After a few weeks of hearing nothing from our agency we were finally told today that our Article 5 was received by our agency yesterday.  The Article 5 comes from the US Embassy in Claudia's country.  Now that our agency has it, they will send it to the ICBF so that they can set up a day for us to meet Claudia!  Can you believe it, after all of this time of waiting, we are FINALLY getting a date for when we will see our beautiful girl!  Words cannot express how excited we are.  Our agency is expecting the date to be in January still, that is NEXT month!  Can you tell I am excited?  On that day, we will take custody of her for our 5 business day bonding period and as long as the ICBF thinks we have all bonded appropriately, they will refer us to court to begin the completion of the adoption.

The other good news we got today came from the Consulate of Claudia's country in NYC.  I called them to find out if we had to travel to NYC in order to get our Visa's.  They told me that there were exceptions (I think for adopting families), and that we could do it through the mail.  This means we will not have to miss work, pay the toll booths or gas.  It saves us time and money, yay!  Unfortunately the Visa's will cost $250 more than we were originally told plus the express delivery to the Consulate and back to us.  We will be able to get our Visa's after we purchase of flights.  Flights to see our girl! 

Baby girl, you have grown so much since we first fell in love with you.  Soon, you will no longer have
to grow up without a family of your own.  We love you and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Mommy and Daddy are coming sweet girl!

Uneventful times

We are at the point of our adoption where there is little we can do except wait.  We are waiting for the courts in Claudia's country to be functional again and we are waiting for our Article 5's to be issued so that we can get a travel date.  We would love to know the date that we will get to meet our daughter for the first time! 

Once we get our date we can begin booking flights and a hotel.  We are hoping to be able to book flights soon so the prices do not keep going up.  We are about $7500 short of being fully funded for Claudia's adoption and most of that money is going directly towards travel.  We will need to purchase two round trip tickets and one one-way ticket.  Unfortunately Claudia's country requires that we purchase round trip tickets even though we are unsure of when we will be returning home.  This is to prove our intentions of leaving her country.  We will inevitably be required to pay additional fees for changing the return flights. 

As far as hotels go, we are looking into a few at this time.  We will be staying in Claudia's region for the majority of our stay but will be required to travel and stay a few nights in the capital city.  Hotels run about $100/night in Claudia's region although we are hoping to find something a little cheaper.  Jason and I will both travel to meet and bond with Claudia, I will stay for as long as I can before I have to return for school.  Jason will have to stay for a total of 4-8 weeks.  The hotel could become very expensive! 

We are getting excited about the prospect of traveling to Latin America.  Neither of us has left the country besides going to Canada.  It will be a great experience.  Besides the obvious of meeting our daughter, we are looking forward to eating the native cuisine and hopefully learning how to cook it so that we can do so at home.  We look forward to implementing meals and traditions from Claudia's country and region into our lives.

Please pray for our adoption and if you feel led, please use our tax deductible donation link on the right hand side of the page to help us become funded for our Claudia's adoption.

Confessions...

I have a confession to make, these last couple of months have been HARD.  I have been an emotional train wreck (I really do feel bad for my husband)! 

Between not knowing when we were traveling, hoping Claudia could be home for Christmas, the judicial strike in her country, knowing she would NOT be home for Christmas, false hopes, financial setbacks, thinking the strike was over, learning it is still ongoing... I am emotionally drained.  This is just the stuff in our adoption that has been causing stress, on top of that I have been having a very difficult time this semester in school.  Getting up to go to work has been tougher than usual as well.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger right?  I tell you all of this not to whine and complain but to tell you that even through these times of intense struggles God has been there for me.

Many mornings, especially when my motivation has been lacking, God shows me that He is there.  I don't know if any of you have seen these beautiful sunrises lately but I have felt God's presence in each and every one.  On my way to school or work several times over the last month or two, God has been blessing me with these gorgeous sunrises.  I keep telling myself that I need to bring a camera in my car with me.  (I also need to remind myself to drive carefully and pay attention to the road as I find myself turning my head view them.)  I was leaving my house a couple of days ago I was finally able to snap a picture of the sun coming up.  It is not a great picture compared to the ones I could get if I were actually on the road, some of those views are absolutely breathtaking, but I got a picture none-the-less.  Enjoy!

Taken from outside of my house

So, I am thankful for small blessings, for God's daily reminders of His love for me.  No matter how you are feeling, always know that God is there.  This is something I need to be reminded of frequently as of late.

Have a happy Thanksgiving to all of my US friends.  Count your blessings and be a blessing to others this holiday season.  Safe travels to you all!

Getting closer...

We just got an email from USCIS saying the they issued our provisional approval on 11/2, that was Friday.  Hopefully it will be in the mail soon!  This means that we just need to wait for Claudia's country to send our Article 5 and give us an official travel date. 

Unfortunately the judges in her country are still on strike... 29 days now and no one really knows when it will end.  Because of this they have stopped issuing the Article 5 fro the time being.  We are not yet worried about this though since most people seem to think the issues will be resolved shortly and we will get travel dates for early January still. 

This is our hope and our prayer, that we can leave for her country the second week of January, meet our daughter and have the mandatory "five business day" bonding period before court.  Claudia could be home in early to mid February if it all goes well.  We know how that goes though.  

Please pray that the judges are back to work soon and that the adoption goes smoothly from here on out.  We had to have several things re-done since we will not be completing the adoption this year which included FBI background checks.  Those are taking 2-3 months to come back and we need them back before that.  Please pray that they will be back in a speedy manner. 

More to come as it is available :)

Orphan Sunday

Today is Orphan Sunday, it takes place the first Sunday each November.  Have you participated today? 

If you are a Christian, you are called to help the orphans.  You may not be called to adopt, but there are so any other ways that you can help out.  You can donate to adoption grant funds or to families adopting, you can help spread the word about the 143million orphans in the world.  Perhaps you can do foster care.  Perhaps you have been called to volunteer at an orphanage.  There are so many different ways you can help the orphans of this world.  After all, we were all orphans until God adopted us into His family.  What will you do?  What need can you fill today?

Reeces Rainbow, the advocacy organization that we found Claudia through is doing their yearly Angel Tree fundraiser now through Dec 31st.  Jason and I actually sponsored Claudia through this last year and now have a precious ornament with her picture on it.  The Angel Tree has a few hundred orphans in need of families.  The goal for the Angel Tree is to get each of these children $1000 in grant money before the end of the year.  It has been very successful in years past but it takes a lot of donors to make that happen.  If you donate $35 or more to any one specific child, you will receive an ornament with that childs picture on it.

Please consider donating to the fund of a child today, you can do so HERE

Need help finding a child to donate to, how about James?  He is from the same country as Claudia.  Often times the children from Latin American countries are overlooked for many reasons.  Can you help fund his grant? Here is his page: http://reecesrainbow.org/31691/james-la

As for our adoption of Claudia, we are still waiting to hear back from USICS, hopefully we will get our pre-authorization tomorrow.  We still need approx. $7500 to be funded for this adoption.  It is a lot, but we have come such a long way!  Thank you all for your donations, prayers and support.  You really have no idea how much they mean to us.

This picture just brightens my day.  I can't wait to have her smiling at me for real!

Crazy Week

What a week!  The weather here in Upstate NY is pretty awful but that cannot compare to what they got in Downstate!  Please pray for all of the families affected by Sandy.  As I type this we have a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain outside.  Ever since before Sandy hit it has been ugly and gray.  They pretty much matches my feelings for the week as well.  We still have not heard from our immigrations officer that we have our preauthorization to get Claudia.  HOPEFULLY this will come on Monday. 

Even if it does come on Monday our chances for traveling this year are now gone.  The judges in Claudia's country are still on strike and it would not be wise to travel right now.  We are looking at early January now.  It stinks but it will be for the best.

I wanted to let everyone who bid on our auction that I have now sent out all of the invoices.  If you did not get one and were expecting one, please check in your "other" messages folder on facebook.

Hopefully I will  have a more clear date for travel soon.  I will keep you updated!

No news...

I wanted to give everyone an update or sorts.  Honestly, we don't have much to update about.  We are still waiting to get our I-800 approval from the USCIS so that Claudia's country can issue the Article 5 and tell us to come get her.  We have been told by our agency that if this does not happen this week that we will not be traveling this year.  Even if it does happen, there is little chance that we will travel this year BUT we have HOPE.  I have been in contact with our Immigrations officer, I am convinced she is the best of them all!  She has been so nice to us during this process and puts up with my emails.  Our paperwork has not gotten to her yet but she said that she will make it a priority once she does get it and told us: "Do not give up hope."  How sweet is that? Please pray for us this week that things will move quickly and that we will get a travel date in the next 2 weeks or so.  I sounds impossible, but nothing is impossible for God.

We are still very short on the funds we will need to travel and will most likely have to take out a hefty loan to cover the rest of the adoption cost.  Please keep this need in your prayers as well.

We are in the path of hurricane Sandy.  Please keep us in your prayers for this as well.  We cannot afford any damage from this storm.  Please pray for everyone that will be affected by this storm and that help will get to where it is needed in a timely manner.

The teens from our Church are leaving this morning for Peru on a missions trip with Dominic Russo Ministries.  Please keep them in your prayers as well as they travel for their safety and for a meaningful learning experience.

That is all I have for now, I will update you as we get new information.

Still waiting

We are back in the waiting game.  We are waiting for USCIS to approve our I800 and send our pre-approval to Claudia's country so they can get moving to issue the Article 5 and tell us when we can go get her.  In the mean time please check out our auction which is in full swing!  It has a  few weeks to go still but there are several items without bids still.  Get your Christmas shopping started early :)

http://www.facebook.com/AuctionToBringClaudiaHome

The auction is on Facebook, just type your bid into the comments section.

Six Weeks

God willing, in six weeks Angie and I will be traveling to Latin America to meet our daughter for the first time.  Neither of us has ever been outside of the United States before (sorry Canada, you don’t count) and I will be spending two months in a country where I speak so little of the language that I might as well say things really loudly and slowly in English.  A country that when I researched books about it, every single one was the story of someone who had been held hostage and tortured in the jungle for 6 years.  A country whose largest anti-American organization/army has a name that I cannot help but laugh when I hear.  (FARC!?  I mean, c’mon, it’s hard enough to be taken seriously when you’re a Marxist rebel army hiding out in the jungle eating capybaras, but then to name your organization something that inspires gut-wrenching laughter in your most hated adversary?  That sounds like something Mel Brooks would come up with.  I am SO dead if I get abducted.)

And even more terrifying than becoming a paycheck to a bunch of Idealist Latin-American Hippie-Soldiers is the thought of having a 3 year old to take care of.  I’m not sure I know what a 3 year old is, let alone how to raise one.  Is there an owner’s manual or something?  Do I get points for effort?  How much damage could a well meaning father-to-be possibly do to a kid in just a couple of weeks, right?  The good news is that we know she’s a tough kid.  I would rather not think/talk about/be reminded of the things this poor girl has gone through, but she’s so tough she puts Rocky to shame.  And she (and EVERY SINGLE ORPHAN) deserves a family that will love her forever. 

For whatever reason (and I don’t hold them accountable at all) Claudia’s foster family isn’t willing to adopt her.  But she deserves to know that she is a daughter, not a foster-daughter or ward of the state.  That there is absolutely nothing wrong with her, and that she has a Mother and a Father who love her no matter what, and will raise her to know that her Father in Heaven loves her even more than we do.  That her Mother and Father’s friends and family lover her so much that they are willing to sacrifice their own comforts and time and money so that she can be with them.  I can’t say it enough – I don’t deserve the friends that I have, and it is inconceivable that I will ever be able to repay your kindness and generosity.

 My hope is that by bringing Claudia home with us, that where she lives now will be able to take in another child.  It sounds like they do a very good job with Claudia, and many kids would be lucky to have a home like the one she is in right now. 

And one by one (or five at a time for some of the Reese’s Rainbow community) family by family,  we’ll get there.

It's Official...

We have officially been asked if we want to be Claudia's parents!!!

We knew it was coming of course, but this makes it that much more real.  It is surreal that our social worker, agency, doctors, psychologists, the US and her country (not to mention our friends and family) all think that we are capable of being good parents to this precious jewel.  The hoops that we have jumped through already and the ones we will continue to jump through have been worth it; but this process has been difficult.

Today we got to learn more about our soon-to-be daughter.  We learned about her medical history and some of her social history.  She had a very sad start to life and I am not ready to share that, I do not know if I will ever post about it.  Please forgive me for being vague, some things are best left private. 

Some info we can share:  She is in a foster home and she is taken care of well.  She continues to grow and improve with her muscle strength.  She can stand and walk a little while holding onto walls and furniture but is eaily frustrated.  She is in a regular kidnergarten program and is socializing well.  We are so happy for this!  She has a few medical problems that will need to be addressed but they are not as bad as we though they could have been praise God!

We will get out paperwork out as soon as we can and pray for a quick return so that we can travel in a month!  Wow, one month...  Crazy to think about.  Oh I hope it happens.

By the way... Claudia is so little.  She is only wearing a size 18 month clothing!  We need to get some warm, winter clothes in a size 18 months or my girl is going to freeze!  Most of the clothes we have are bigger than that.

Ok, so  I know what you are wondering... Did you get any new pictures?  As a matter of fact we did.  We got these recent pictures of her.  Oh my how she has grown.  Claudia, stop growing until we get you home...



Look at that adorable smile!

I think she is mad that they are making her stand so long to take a picture!

These are the last pictures we will have of her until she is in our arms!  We pray that that day is only a month away!  Please continue to pray that the process move quickly and without any problems from here on out.  Please pray to God for the financial provisions to make this adoption possible!

Big Day!

OOOOoooooH, I am so excited!

Today we are supposed to get all of Claudia's social and medical history.  Our referral packet is coming TODAY! We can officially say YES to this precious girl and learn all we can about her!  I cannot wait to find out more about her personality, likes, dislikes, current size. And I want to see new pictures of her.

Unfortunately for me I have a long day ahead of me before I get to come home and rush to the mail box.  Lord, please give me the patience to wait and the concentration to do what needs to be done today.  Jason worked late last night so that he can get home about the same time I do so that we can open it and go through it together.  I cannot wait.

Mr. Mailman, please do not disappoint.

Guess What?

I know this is a bit overwhelming, two posts in a day but I wanted to announce that:

 

 

Our agency has received our Official Referral Packet and they are Express Mailing it to us Today!!

 

So, we are only a day or two away from learning more about our soon-to-be daughter!  Along with this update, we learned that there is a tiny, itty bitty chance that we may still travel this year.  I am holding onto that hope for as long as I can.  We have so much to do this week, and so much more money to raise.  I have no idea how we are going to get this done, but somehow, someway it will happen.

 

 

Please say a few extra prayers for us today!

Still waiting...

We are still waiting on our referral packet to arrive.  Last we heard, it should be translated by now and on its way to our agency.  We are hoping to have it this week, but that may not happen.  Things are looking more and more bleak for Claudia to be home this year.  This is very tough on us but we know that everything will happen according to God's perfect timing, so we wait and trust in Him.

You may have noticed that we took down the Chip-in for Claudia's quilt.  Why?  We did not see any progress with it.  We understand that it was not a fundraiser to get her home and there was little in it for you so we decided to call it quits.  BUT  Brenda and Emily and so super sweet that they donated the quilt to us anyway!  What a beauty it is.  Not only is it gorgeous but the lining is super soft, perfect for a child.  So without further adieu, here is Claudia's beautiful quilt:

The lovely packaged quilt

 

 



 

 

I wish I had better lighting to do this quilt justice.  I assure you it is masterfully made, excellent quality.  I urge you go to their Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/masterpiecequilts and browse the available quilts.  These would make an amazing Christmas gift for a loved one!  Also, visit their website: http://masterpiecequilts.com/ to learn more about this Mother and Daughter team.  They are amazing. 

We will keep on waiting and update you when we have news.  Please keep us in your prayers as we wait and pray that the funding  will come in as we need it. 

Pouring out my broken heart

Our adoption journey really started over a year ago when I first stumbled across Reeces Rainbow.  If you have followed our blog from the beginning, you will know that I have known for a very long time that I wanted adopt; in fact, I had looked into agencies a few times before.  When I came across Reeces Rainbow, my heart broke.  Many tears were cried for the hundreds of children wasting away in orphanages and mental institution just because they were not "perfect" by human standards.  You see, it was not that long ago here in the US when children were placed into institutions because of their special needs, thankfully more and more people are coming to see that they are worth something and that they can contribute to society.  Unfortunately in many other countries, these children are not given a chance to thrive, they are not picked up and held on a daily basis and are lucky to have their diapers changed more than once a day.  There are several other, much better adoption blogs out there that describe the horrors that children with special needs face in other countries.  I am trying doing my small part by getting the word out, by advocating for these children.

Yes, our blog has been mostly about our adoption of Claudia BUT that is not the bigger picture, our story does not end when she comes home.  We may have stepped out in faith for this one child but we will not stop there.  Does this mean that we will adopt more in the future?  Perhaps (I hope so) but that is not enough.  Our eyes have been opened to the horrors.  We want to shout it out to all that will listen that these children deserve a chance at being children!

Not everyone is called to adopt, not everyone is eligible to adopt but everyone can make a difference.  You can advocate for these children, you can pray for them and you can donate money to the families that are adopting them. 

Some people think that "if you cannot afford to adopt, then you should not do it.  How can you take care of the child?"  To this I ask... could you afford all of your medical bills when you had a child?  No, probably not, your insurance probably payed for it.  Just because families do not have $30,0000  cash to adopt does not mean that they are not financially stable enough to care for a child.  Some people think that fundraising for an adoption is wrong.  I disagree.  How many more families would welcome a child into their home if adoption were not so expensive?  Others ask "Why don't you just adopt from within the US? or "Through foster care, it is free that way."  To this I say, praise God that there are people who feel this way, YES these children need homes too.  Every child deserves a loving home BUT this is not our calling.  God has broken our hearts specifically for international children with special needs.

So I just want to reiterate that our story does not stop when Claudia gets home.  Our hearts will not be satisfied while there are still millions of orphans without loving homes.  We do not know where God will lead us next on our journey but we look forward to it.  We know that our calling is not easy but we will continue to follow our calling, one day at a time.

Baby Steps

We got the news yesterday that the region where Claudia is has officially assigned her to us!  We are so happy that they want Jason and I to be Claudia's parents.  That is great news but now we have to wait for her documents to be sent to the capitol of her country, translated and sent to us to approve and send back.  Our agency thinks that we could have the documents in early October which does not look good as far as being able to travel in November.  I know that anything is still possible and we are still praying for it to happen.  Perhaps the US will be lightning fast on approving our 1800 once we submit it.  Please keep praying for an early November travel date.

Bethel Live Worship - I've Found a Love (Sung by Jenn Johnson)

I thought since I was sharing about the blog on Facebook that I should actually contribute as well.  Inspired by listening to Bethel Live Worship on Spotify. Video below, if you're not familiar with the song.

Because I’ve found a love greater than life itself.  What does that mean?  It means that I’ve found a love so strong, so powerful that I will give up my life for it.  Not “give up my life” as in die; I often think of how easy it would be to do exactly that.  Die.  To not have to struggle and stumble and fail constantly anymore.  To not constantly disappoint everyone in my life because of all the things that are in me that are stronger than I am.  Don’t doubt it - If you knew me, knew the truth of who I am, instead of the front that I put up, you would be disappointed.

When I say “give up my life” I mean it in the sense that I will willingly give up everything that I have wanted in my life for this love.  That I will do my best to forget about the big house, the fast car and the lavish vacations.  That instead of everything that I want in my life, I will make the choices that this love dictates.  I will give up material things to bring a little girl who was abandoned by her mother to be with her Real Mother.  That I will give up the stuff that I want, to hopefully give those choices to children in need.

As I re-read what I’ve just written, inspired by listening to the Bethel Worship song “I’ve Found a Love” on Spotify, I’m struck by the insanity and arrogance of the words.  Even a couple of years ago, when I was starting to get involved at my Church and considering myself something of a “Christian”, I would have thought it was crazy to adopt a “retarded” kid.  Why would anyone want to bring that kind of misery and suffering into their life?  Why would you want a child that would never be able to do anything? 

As I get older and less stupid (I’ll never be wise, trust me) I’ve come to understand that what a person is actually capable of means very little.  The more important thing is how much a person strives to reach that potential.  The greatest hope that I have for my child(ren) is that they will work hard to be the best that they can be, no matter what.  I am more impressed and inspired by someone who strives to overcome adversity than by someone who was Blessed with a huge talent, and fails to take full advantage of it.  I think I’m beginning to understand how a parent can be as proud of a child who has learned to tie their own shoes after years of effort, as one that goes on to law school or professional sports.  And EVERY child, regardless of health, circumstance or race – EVERY child deserves to be loved, and to have a chance at life.

The arrogance is something I have, and always will, struggle with.  Without bothering to look up the references, I can think of a couple of different authors and speakers who have made the case for Pride being the most dangerous of faults.  I know that it is a huge issue in my life.  My pride is what causes me to stumble the most, and also what makes me want to take credit when I actually manage to not completely suck as a human being.  Lately I’ve been looking around and judging people for not doing more than they are, because I feel secure and superior in what I’m doing.  What I forget is that Angie and I are part of a community that could very easily look down on us because we’re only adopting one little girl, instead of 5, and that she is comparatively very healthy.  I don’t know if I could ever be strong enough or faithful enough to do what some of the families on Reese’s Rainbow do, and it is humbling to remember that.  All of this besides the fact that I haven’t really done anything.  Angie has done most of the hard work, and our friends and family have done as much financially as we have.  Even the arrogance that it took to write that first paragraph – every sentence starts with “I” and is all about “me”…it makes me want to go back and delete it.  I leave it in hopes that it helps prove a point.  Listening to a song that thousands of people know by heart, and I think that what comes into my head makes me somehow special, meaningful or unique. 

I’m not any of those things, and I can’t accomplish anything on my own.  I’m just another person trying to put my selfish nature far enough aside for God to be able to do something with the life He has given me.  Despite this, He still loves me.  Still wants me to be near to Him.  Wants me to find my joy in Him, and in the purpose that He has given me.  Maybe the reason we struggle with the concept of God so much as a whole is because that kind of love is completely outside of what comes naturally to us.  Or maybe I just struggle because I think I know better than Him.

Our Church is doing a series that poses the question “What Breaks Your Heart?” and it is reminding me that this was not a logical choice that Angie and I made.  We didn’t sit around and talk about how we could have an impact on the World.  Angie stumbled upon Reese’s Rainbow by accident while looking for adoption agencies.  What she saw broke her heart.  She started trying to get me to pay attention to it, which I wanted absolutely nothing to do with, of course.  But I could only take looking at so many of the pictures before it got to me.  I didn’t think I had a heart to break.  Apparently I was wrong. 

The decision to act was not an easy one because the logic kept winning out, which sounds better than “It took me a while to get over my selfishness and build up the courage to actually believe in God.” The deciding factor for me was that I had seen things that I couldn’t un-see, learned things I couldn’t forget, and those things made it too painful to continue doing nothing to help.  It wasn’t so much a choice of deciding to act as it was to pull my head out of the sand and see the world around me.  How you act will just be seeing what hurts you the most out of all the ugliness that’s out there.

-Jason

Hope

Sometimes you just need to live on hope.  We have not heard anything substantial yet about our official referral but we were told by our adoption agency that Claudia's State/Region (in her country) is cooperating.  To me this means that they are getting the referral paperwork ready, then it will be translated, sent to our agency and finally sent to us to return to her country asap!  Once we get the paperwork we can submit our USCIS 1-800 paperwork.  Our agency said we should start filling that out now.  So we have HOPE that things will continue to run smoothly, with Godspeed!

So when will we travel?

This is the big question!  There are a few things that need to happen first as I described in the last post.  I emailed our agency to see if it was possible that we could get Claudia this year still.  After days and days of waiting (why do Holiday weekends have to come at inconvenient times?)  We got our response today.

Our agency said that IF we are sent her referral this month, we MAY be able to get our USCIS pre-approval in Oct and MAY be able to travel in early November IF everything runs smoothly.  That is a lot of If's and May's but our God is bigger than such weak words. 

Our God is STRONG! 

We can do this, if it is God's will, we WILL get her this year.  Can you imagine?  Claudia could be home for Christmas!  What a blessing that would be!  Please continue to pray with us that this will happen.  We have a lot to get done between now and then and a lot of money to raise but I know that we can get this done.

I wanted to give a shout out to Sarah Huber!  Hi Sarah!  Sarah is a young lady with a HUGE heart and is an avid follower of our journey.  The young miss Sarah even sacrificed some of her own money to bid (and win) in our auction for Claudia.  Thank you so much for your support and you God given compassionate heart. 

A REAL Update!

Things are actually progressing, really!  We just got the AMAZING news today that Claudia's country has approved us! 

So what does this mean?  It means that we are eligible to adopt a child from her country within a set of parameters (age and sex of the child to be adopted).  Of course Claudia is within these parameters.  Her country knows that we want to adopt her specifically so now we are waiting on our official referral for Claudia specifically.  According to our agency this could take 5-7wks (it takes a while to translate the documents).  But we are praying it goes more quickly (the approval of our dossier was about a month quicker than expected). 

Once we get the "official referral" we have 2 weeks to accept it.  Our plan is to review it and accept the referral imediately.  Once we accept the referral to Claudia we will need to fill out more paperwork, the USCIS I-800 form, which is the"Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative."  That is currently taking about 3 weeks to be approved.  The US gov. will submit out pre-approval to her country and then they will issue a letter authorizing that the legal adoption may take place which could take 2-3 weeks.  Once we have the letter, we can then get ready to travel!

Our hope and prayer remains that we will be in her country this fall and home before Christmas.  Her country shuts down for the holidays so if we cannot travel in the next few months, we may have to wait until next year to get her.  Please pray for smooth proceedings from here on out and specifically that she will be home this year.

We still need about $14,000 to get her home the majority of this money is travel expenses.  Please pray with us for God's continued provision financially.  Advocate and donate for us if you can. We still have T-shirts for sale as well as bracelets.  You can still purchase coffee to help us fund raise as well.

Baby girl, we are coming for you!  We don't want to miss any more moments with you.  No more birthdays or holidays alone.  You have grown so much since the first picture we saw of you, the picture that led us to you, we want to be with you to watch you grow.  You will be home soon!

Quick Adoption Update

We have not heard much but we did get something...

Our agency just told us that our dossier has been translated and submitted to the people in charge of reviewing it in Claudia's country.  They also said that we may hear back from them in September (instead of the previously mentioned October!)  I like forward progress.

Please pray with us that everything goes smoothly, that we do not need to send her country any more information and the the remaining $15,000 will come in as we need it (or sooner!)

Thank you for joining us on our journey, I hope you will continue on with us.

Mini Vacation

Now that I have a little while to sit down I can finally write a little!

This past weekend Jason and I got to spend some time with his parents, brother, his brothers girlfriend and their long time friend Casey.  We were up in the great old Adirondack mountains.  This has been a yearly trip for us for years now, we go up to Fourth Lake and spend a few days in a beautiful cabin.  We usually visit Old Forge and Inlet and eat at some AMAZING Restaurants.

In Old Forge there is this little Italian restaurant called Billys, the food is some of the BEST we have ever eaten and we always have leftovers.  The Pork a la Billys is fantastic, pulled pork over pasta.. oooh so good!  In Inlet we went to the Woods Inn where we got our own private dining room with a balcony overlooking a beautiful sunset.  At the Woods Inn, I highly suggest you get their Tuxedo dessert: white chocolate and chocolate mousse covered in a chocolate ganache.. deliciouso!  Hungry yet?

It was a great time of enjoying the company of family and friends and relaxing.  Monday I had a pretty rough day, felt down right sick.  It was the worst I have felt in 9 years and of course it had to happen while on vacation.  I did not eat anything all day except a small piece of cheese (Adirondack Cheddar... so good).  I took lots of meds and was feeling OK enough to attempt dinner, it was a good thing I did, that was the night we went to the Woods Inn.  Can you tell I love food?  I was able to eat a good amount for dinner without feeling too bad.  The rest of the vacation I did not feel nearly as ill.  Jason took good care of me, I love that man!

We did not get a chance to actually get out on the lake but we hung out on the dock and on the back porch with a great lake view.  We had a great time up there but we kept thinking about Claudia, about how much we could do with her if she were with us.  We also decided there were many stores that we would be unable to take her in or would have to carry her in.  We talked about her going in the water with floaties.  I cannot wait until she is here and we can do all of that with her.  I know that so many things will be different once she is here but we look forward to all of the exciting new adventures we will have once we have our daughter with us.

For your viewing pleasure:

Ryan, Holly and Casey on the balcony of the Woods Inn.

Jason and I on the balcony at the Woods Inn.

Sunset and view at the Woods Inn.

The beautiful sunset and view behind the Woods Inn.



The lovely view from the back deck of the cabin.



Taken from the dock at the cabin.



Jason and I outside of the cabin.

T-Shirt Sale at Breens

The wonderful owners of Breens in Palmyra let Alicia set up shop today to sell some of our T-shirts!  Have you seen these yet, they are pretty awesome?!  Thank you Alicia and Amanda for these great shirts! 

We still have more available for purchase if you would like them.  We have several available in the blue.  If there is a big enough demand we can put in another order for more shirts so let us know!  If you need a Face Book invite to the Adoption Shirt Event, let me know.  We can ship the shirts.  The cost is just $15 plus shipping.

Sweet Opportunity

We have been blessed by so many people along this journey, friends, family, and complete strangers.  Another has stepped forward with a lovingly sweet opportunity to bless our family and to bless our daughter.

Along our adoption journey, I have met a woman named Brenda.  Brenda is the owner of Masterpiece Quilts (visit her shop: HERE or her website HERE.)  Brenda has a beautiful daughter, Emily who has Down syndrome.  Masterpiece quilts is a two woman team of Brenda and Emily.  The Masterpiece in the name is Emily.  Emily picks out the colors and patterns of the quilts and Brenda quilts them.  Each quilt is an amazing work of love and shows the inseparable bond between a mother and daughter.  If you look closely, each quilt has one square that is slightly different than the others.

Brenda has offered to make our beautiful Claudia a custom quilt of her very own!  The quilts cost $85.  Here is where you come in.  Brenda has said that if we can raise the $85 she will not only make a quilt for Claudia, but will also donate $42.50 to our account!  What a blessing!  We are trying to get the $85 raised in one week, by Friday the 24th of August.  Can we do it?

I am adding a special Chip-in just for the quilt. 

If you feel led, please consider donating $5 or $10 for this quilt to be made for Claudia.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and blessings.

Shout it out!

We still have not received any new information regarding our dossier.  This could be a good thing or it could just be that no one has looked at it yet.  In reality we probably have a lot more waiting to do.  We got an email from our agency describing our newest timeline.  Now they have sent us time lines before, but to be honest, they have not included many "times."  For example, they never told us how long it would take for Claudia's country to review our dossier.  Perhaps I was naive in my thinking that it would happen quickly and smoothly BUT our agency said we "may hear from them in October." WHAT!  Seriously? But our daughter is waiting, we are waiting... I don't know if I can wait that long without hearing anything.  I will be in need of many prayers to get me through these next few months!  If it takes that long, then it will be Oct/Nov until we can get our referral in and her country closes for December for Holiday.  Guess what that means?  Yea... we may not be traveling until next year.  That sounds like so far away!  This worries me a little not only because I don't want to have to wait that long to see my little girl but the Adoption Tax Credit is set to expire at the end of this year.  If we do not finish our adoption by the end of 2012, we may not be eligible for the tax credit (about $12,000) at all unless it is extended.  I know that it is all in God's timing and not our own but could you say a few prayers for us please?

On another note, I want to thank all of the generous people who have won items from our auction.  So many of you have gone above and beyond in you generosity.  Thank you all so much for helping to make this auction a success!  This adoption is only possible because of you.

Claudia, Your mommy and daddy are working so hard to bring you home so that you may know the love of a family.  We cannot wait to hold you in our arms.  You have so many people out there that love you and are helping us bring you home!

Housekeeping

A wee bit of housekeeping to mention...

The auction is over and I am now in the process of notifying the winners.  Please be patient as I have about 50 people to get a hold of.  You can pay on the auction page or here in the Chip-in to the right that says "Auction to Bring Claudia Home" (the green Chip-in).  Please make sure that the address you want your item(s) shipped to is the same one on your Pay Pal account, otherwise, let me know in a message through Pay Pal with your payment.  If you want to pay by check, that can be arranged as well, just send me a message.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.  I will get items shipped as quickly as I can once payments have been received.  I will be away on vacation beginning next weekend and will return in the middle of next week.  I will have limited Internet access during that time (I don't know what I will do!)

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who helped to make this auction a success.  If every item is accounted for, we will have made about $1100 minus shipping charges!  This will go a long way towards helping us get closer to bringing Claudia home.  We have a ways to go still but God has been so faithful!  We have some truly amazing friends.  Thank you all for your support.  Keep those prayers coming.

Surrounded by Great Friends

Hey everyone!  We don't have any new adoption news to share at this point.  Our paperwork is either:

A) Still on it's way to Claudia's country
B) Being Translated
C) Being looked at, or
D) On it's way back to us (ok, this one is a long shot... wishful thinking)

Anyway, we have had some time to breathe, relax and work on some more grant applications.  We will be going on a mini vacation to the Adirondacks with Jason's parents for a few nights in about two weeks and are very excited about that.

Right now our auction is going good, we are up to about $700.  If you want to bid, don't forget to get your bids in by THIS Friday night at midnight CST, the auction is HERE.

My friend Alicia has been a tremendous help during our entire adoption process.  She has been one of our biggest advocates and now she has gone a step further.  Alicia has got a T-shirt fundraiser started now.  The shirts will be $15 plus shipping (if you need them shipped).  They come in men's or women's styles and the print comes in two different colors.  You can choose LOVE to be written in either hot pink or neon blue.  Below are examples of the hot pink.  The t-shirt color is charcoal grey.  Convo me if you would like a shirt or leave a message on the Facebook page for the shirts HERE.

Showing a womens and a mens style!

Auction is doing well!

I wanted to update everyone on our auction and give a little more information about it.  So far, we are 3 full days into the auction out of 14 days and we are at just over $500!  How cool is that?  Of course some of that money will have to go towards shipping the items but still, that is a great start!  We still have several items with no bids or very low bids.  We are also still accepting any donations of items that you might like to donate to the auction.  Just let us know what it is  and send us a picture so that we can add it to the auction.  Every little bit helps:)

How the auction works:
You have to have Facebook in order to access the auction, if you don't have it, find soemone that does and make them bid for you :)
Go to the auction here: Auction To Bring Claudia Home
Click on the Photos to be taken to the albums, open the album with the Auction Phots and start going through the pictures to find the items you would like to bid on.
To bid, look to the right hand side and find the comments section, each one will have a description of the item and its starting bid.  If there are no bids, you can bid any amount from the starting bid on up.  If there are bids, you will see them under comments. 
At the end of the Auction, Friday August 10th at midinght CST bidding will be closed, any bids after midnight CST will not count towards the auction.
We will contact the winning bidders for payment.
Local winners can pay by cash or check, all others we ask to pay using our Chip-in as we need this money immediately to accept our referral in a few weeks.

Let the bidding wars continue:)

If you have any questions about the auction, don't hesitate to ask! 

Here are just a few of the items up for bid: