Where we are now...

So many little updates and I have had so little time to post!

Ok, so the first thing is that Our sweet little Claudia just recently had her birthday.  Yes, our girl is now 3 years old!  Jason and I longed to be with her, to share her 3rd birthday with her but we are still a few months away from traveling.  Jason baked a nice yellow cake with chocolate frosting in honor of her birthday.  It was yummy!  We hope that her caretakers acknowledged her birthday and made it a special day for her.  God willing, that will be her last birthday without a mommy and daddy to love on her.  Who wants to help me start planning her 4th birthday party? 

We just received notice from our adoption agency that they have sent out our dossier to her country!  Ahh!  That sis so exciting, that means we had everything in the first time! Now I only hope that her country thinks so too!  It will take about 2 weeks for our paperwork to be translated and then it will be reviewed by her country.  After they review it, if they do not require any more information or paperwork from us, they will approve us for adoption and send us a referral for Claudia!  This could take 4-8 weeks.  Once we get our referral, we will have her complete social and medical history and we are hoping for more pictures (you can never have enough).  We have 2 weeks to accept the referral (of course we will).  BUT as soon as we accept, we will owe $3000 to her country.  We just sent our a check for $5400 and payed the $120 for our Apostilles so we are running low on funds and will need to raise $3000 in the next 5-8 weeks depending on how fast her country is.  We know that God will see us through with this, we have yet to miss a payment but sometimes I really wish it were in the bank already!  I cannot wait to see how God is going to use his people this time to get us funded for the next steps.

Speaking of funding, my friend Natalie is doing a fundraiser to bring her girl Sara home.  Ok, she is doing multiple fundraisers BUT she is using AdoptionBug to sell some really awesome T-shirts.  Jason and I just got our in the mail yesterday.  We decided that instead of doing something big for our anniversary, we would help a fellow adoptive mommy to get her daughter home.  You can purchase the shirts here: http://www.adoptionbug.com/keller/

Here we are in our new shirts!

And on to our current fundraiser, this is a HUGE Auction of over 100 items to be sold on Facebook.  Please share this with your friends and family, this auction could be a huge success if we get the word out about it. FACEBOOK AUCTION. 

Getting closer...

Today was a super busy day!  I finally got all of our documents certified, now they are ready to be Apostilled on Monday and we almost have enough money to do it!  We have had some very generous donations come in and we feel so so SO blessed!  I want to thank each and every donor, ever little or big donation has helped us to get this far.  Did I mention how blessed we are?  I wanted to remind everyone that has donated (unless you wish to stay anonymous of course) to convo me with your name so that I can have Kaleigh put your name on a puzzle piece!  Let's get this puzzle done so that it can be placed on Claudia's wall before she gets home!

Today was also a sad day.  My sweet kitty Gracie has two mammary tumors.  Almost 90% of mammary tumors in cats are malignant and of those that are surgically removed 66% of them grow back.  Gracie is only 10-12 years old which is not very old for a cat but she is sick right now.  I do not think she would even survive surgery.  There is no way to tell if the tumors are cancerous unless they remove them and we won't know if it is spreading until it gets bad enough to show up in a chest x-ray.  By then, it will have spread to her lungs :(  In order to do surgery she would need blood tests done to see if she is healthy enough for it.  All said and done the vet estimated $550 for everything, after paying over $100 for today's visit.  We have some decisions to make but for now we are going to get her health back up (she recently had an allergic reaction and licked herself raw) and go from there.  Hopefully the tumors are benign and she will be comfortable for many more years!

Gracie is the Tortie, the other kitty is Cerulea (She has beautiful blue eyes).  Gracie is such a good motherly kitty (not really Cerulea's mother though, at least as far as we know)

She gives you some strange looks but is a total sweetheart that likes to give hugs!

My vet and the County Clerk are both in the same town so thankfully I got to take care of two things in one trip!  That almost never happens.  I went to the County Clerks office first since you never know how long you will be at the vet (or the County Clerks for that matter...).  Before going, I called to make sure that someone would be there to authenticate our paperwork (I am learning to call before trying to do anything lately!).  While on the phone I asked them if I could bring my cat in since I would not leave her in my car considering it was 95 degrees outside today!  They did not have a problem with it since she would be in a carrier.  I sure did get some strange looks when I walked in with a cat though!

That is all of the updates I have for today.  Have a great weekend everyone and pray the we get some rain up here, we are in drought conditions and it is HOT!

Give Away Does NOT End Tomorrow!

Hello all!  I have so much to blog about, and I will do it soon, I just need to get my thoughts together and organized!  So for now I wanted to let you all know that:

***TOMRROW IS NOT THE LAST DAY FOR OUR GIVE AWAY***

That's right , so if you have not had a chance to enter yet, don't worry, there is still time! Click here:
http://www.prayingclaudiahome.blogspot.com/2012/06/give-away-continued.html 
AND make sure to leave a comment that you shared/donated to be entered to win one of these great prizes:

An herbal neck wrap and eye wrap set from Comfy Creations http://www.etsy.com/listing/50940291/herbal-neck-wrap-eye-pillow-set-hotcold

A 5 pack sampler set of Honey Tea from Honeyteathyme shop is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/honeyteathyme?ref=pr_shop_more,

A spa pack including: Sugar scrub, lotion, a candle and bath salts in a DELICIOUS Vanilla scent from Rustic Ridge Creations, Shop here: https://www.etsy.com/people/kimberlygoddard1

$25 Target Gift Card

Tutu

Photo Credit

Custom Made Emma Skirt

$50 Amazon Gift Card

$25 Gift card to the Cheesecake Factory

Photo Credit

Hand made little girl’s Pillow Case Dress in any size 2-6 (Several colors and styles available)

Kisses From Katie

Package of 3 vintage sewing patterns (your choice out of a huge collection)

A hand made scarf purchased in South America (we will purchase and bring back to ship to you)

Kaleigh is the one running the give-away and she is currently in Latin America with her family as they adopt TWO precious little girls.  This is super exciting but has also made the logistics of shipping the items in the give-away difficult so we are extending it for a short period of time instead of making people wait a super long time to recieve the items!  I will update you soon when we figure out when it is going to end.  Sorry for the confusion!

Pushing forward

Hello my friends.  I know it has been a while since I have posted anything.  Things have been very busy around here.  Jason has been putting in 55 hours a week at his job and just picked up a second job to top that off.  I can't wait until this adoption is paid for and Claudia is home so that I can see my husband regularly again!  I have been doing quite a bit of pet sitting over the last few weeks to earn some extra cash :)

Next week is our yardsale!  Please keep this in your prayers as we are still about $2800 away from being able to submit our dossier.  Praying for a miracle.  The sale will be June 21-23, if you are in the area feel free to stop out and help support us.  On Friday of next week my friend is throwing a fundraiser for us by selling her Arbonne products and donating her profits to the adoption.  How awesome is that!?  We also still have the puzzle fundraiser going and could really use some more names to put on those pieces Click HERE!  The give-away will run until the end of the month Click HERE.

As far as the adoption goes we are still waiting for our FBI background checks to come in.  We had our Psych eval done and are waiting for that to be approved by our agency and sent to us.  We had our biometrics fingerprints done for the USCIS and are awaiting their approval.  I also have to get my paperwork to our Doctor to be signed and sent back to us.  Once this is all taken care of we have a bunch of papers to be notarized, certified and then Apostilled so that we can send them off to Claudia's country.  It seems like a lot but really we can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

My birthday is tomorrow, I get to share it with all the wonderful fathers out there for Fathers Day this year.  It would be such a blessing for me and Jason, the soon-to-be father, to see our donations grow tomorrow and through the upcoming week.  Please consider donating to our FSP HERE or to our Chip-in on the Right-->.  Use your donation to get something for yourself  through the give-away, purchase coffee or purchase something from this blog or my Etsy shop.  So many ways to give and also get something in return. 

We have had so many people bless us thus far through our journey.  We are amazed at the generosity of complete strangers, acquaintances and friends.  We hope you will continue to pray for us and follow our journey through to the end.  We hope that our story will be a blessing to others and even an inspiration.  We just want God to use us to further His Kingdom and do His will.

Prayer requests: Please join us in praying for the following: Claudia's health and safety, our paperwork to come in quickly, for financial blessings, that the officials in her country will find favor with us, and for safe travels.

I will update you all when we hear back from those we need to hear from and of course let you know how the yardsale went!

Current Happenings

Things have been fairly stagnant with the adoption lately.  We received notification from the USCIS that they got our paperwork and they cashed our check.  Today we received our receipt in the mail for our USCIS Applications stating that it is being forwarded to the Hague Adoption Unit!  We are still waiting to hear back from the FBI with our background checks.  We are also having a difficult time finding a licensed psychologist to perform our psychological evaluations that the country requires.  Thats where we are right now.

The last week has been so busy but not in a bad way.  Last Tuesday Jason and I went to see Abby (remember our Sunday "daughter?") perform in her band and chorus concerts and afterwards went to get coffee with some of our great friends. 

Jason, Abby and I after the concert

Abby and Grace (our other Sunday daughter :-p)  Abby had SOOOO many people show up to support her, we seriously took up over a row, it was awesome!

We got a lot of yardwork done this past week and Jason got a string trimmer from his grandma, yay!  My garden is coming along nicely but I have to water it a lot each day since it has been so HOT and DRY over the last few weeks.

I picked up a pet sitting job last week and got to watch several cats, 2 dogs and 2 horses!  That was pretty fun, AND I get to watch them all again next week!  This week I am "plant sitting" I get to water plants for the week :)  I am happy to be picking up these little jobs on top of my "real" job to bring in some extra money to bring Claudia home!

I have been selling jewelry from my Etsy shop and did well last week with that: www.simplyvintagefun.etsy.com

My aunt Pam held a yard sale this past week to help raise money for us and Claudia and that brought in about $200+.  Not too bad!  My mom and I are planning on hosting a big yard sale/garage sale in a few weeks and have some donations coming in to help with that! 

We are in need of about $4500 in the near future.  If you can help out, it would be greatly appreciated.  Prayers are always needed too!  Thank you for your support and for following along with our blog.

Paperwork Delivered!

Our USCIS paperwork is now in the PO box of the USCIS.  My delivery confirmation message: "Your Item's StatusYour item was delivered at 12:00 pm on May 21, 2012 in DALLAS, TX 75222" YES!  Now this does not mean that the paperwork is in anyone's hands, BUT I know that it has been delivered safely. One step closer...

I have been scrambling around all day today to find a licenced psychologist to perform our psychological evaluations and am having NO LUCK at all.  Apparently you have to be crazy to get in to see one!  All that I have called say they only do evals for rehab and counseling and such...  I am still looking for one to get our evaluation done.

Please do not forget all of the awesome fundraisers we have going on right now.  There are so many different ways you can help!  Kaleigh is still doing a give-away at www.prayingclaudiahome.blogspot.com

We have bracelets and other jewelry still for sale (click on the links on the right)

You can make a purchase at my Etsy shop HERE

You can purchase coffee (See the Button for Just Love Coffee to the right)

Or you can simply make a donation using our Family Sponsorship Page (tax deductible) or Chip in to the right.

Every day that passes is one day closer to the day that we meet our beautiful daughter.  It still seems so surreal that our daughter is out there, waiting for us. We are doing everything we can to get you soon Claudia!

So much going on!

This past week has felt like a whirlwind.  We have had so many things going on and it has been absolutely crazy!  I feel like I have so much to write about and I don't know where to start, I think I may have to separate it into different posts just to get my thoughts organized!  Please be patient.

Ok, so first... the one thing that Jason and I have been waiting for came!  Claudia's updated information with new pics!  I will share those shortly for your viewing pleasure.  These pictures and info came at just the right time!  God knew that we needed some inspiration for a difficult week!  These pictures helped us get through it.  I now have her beautiful face as the screen on my phone and I smile every time I open up my phone.  As for the medical information we were not surprised by any of the information we received but we know now more than ever that she needs to come home soon to see a cardiologist in the US.  This beautiful girls has several delays but we are primarily concerned for her little heart.  Please help us spread the word and help us get her home soon.

And now for what you really came here to see:

Isn't she just precious?  Sadly, these will probably be the last pictures we will get before we see her.  I hope we can travel soon.  I would really love to be travelling this summer but I do not know how feasible that is.  I am praying for a July travel date but our HS is only now being completed.  It would make life so much easier on us to travel during the summer since I could do the bulk of the travelling and Jason could be home working and paying our bills.  If we cannot travel until the fall, I will need to stay home :(.  I know that God can do anything and I am trusting in His timing.  Praying for paperwork to travel quickly, get into the right hands and be approved.  Our little girl needs us.

Thank you all!

I don't have any new news or updates today but I wanted to say Thank You to all of my friends and family for all of the support they are giving to us.  We could not do this without you.  I want to thank God for continuing to lead us through this adoption because it is IMPOSSIBLE without Him!  We appreciate your continued prayers and support as we continue through this journey.  It is truly unbelievable how much you can love someone that you have never met before, and to feel such a strong bond already.  I know that she probably does not even know that her mommy and daddy are trying so hard to come get their little girl.  I just want to hug her and kiss her and let her know that she is loved.  I want her to know that she has so many supporters here that are waiting to meet her.  I know that this will not be an easy road but it is the road that has been chosen for us by Him.  I would not have it any other way. 

God is so good!

God constantly proves to us that He is the one who will provide for us.  We just had to send in half of our agency fee last week.  It was so hard to do considering we don't know if we have passed our home study.  Each day we wonder how we will ever be able to pay for the adoption and every time something is due, God comes through.  Just last night Jason was able to sell his motorcycle which will cover the next bill.  It was a sad day for Jason to loose his bike but Claudia is worth SOOOOO much more than a motorcycle (right hun?!)  Please join us in praying for God to continue providing for us.

We are still working on completing our homestudy, that should be done soon and then on to UCIS paperwork.  We are also completing our online parenting classes.  I like being able to take them at home instead of driving somewhere to take them.  We are using Adoption Learning Partners.  They have a Hague package that includes 5 classes for $149.  It is a bit expensive, but it is worth it to be able to take the class in my pj's! 

Please help my friend Natalie bring her daughter home.  Natalie is adopting a little girl about a year older than our Claudia from the same country.  She also had Down syndrome.  I hope that someday they can have a play date!  Right now Natalie is doing a give-away on her blog and her father has donated a half a pig valued at approx. $200!  Go to her blog and enter for your chance to win. Natalie's Blog.

God is so good!  Lets bring these girls home :)

Clairification...

Ok, so I know that in my previous posts I discussed that we were looking to adopt more than one child from Latin America.  You may have noticed that in my recent posts I have only been talking about "our daughter."  We found out from our agency a while ago (when we were switching agencies) that during the time we work trying to work with our original agency that one of the girls had been applied for.  This was a bit sad but also was great news.  This means that we are not the only ones looking to adopt children with DS from LA!  Raising two children, about the same age with DS would have been very difficult, not that we did not take that into account before pursing the adoption but we felt that God had a plan for all of this.  He does have a plan!  Now, I am not God, I cannot even begin to guess what His plan is for us but maybe, just maybe He wanted us all along to only adopt one of these precious children?  Not only that but maybe He did not want to make us choose which one we would adopt (how hard would that have been!?!)  So, we are currently pursuing the adoption of one little girl from Latin America with Down syndrome. 

We have known for some time that we would most likely only be adopting one but today we found out which one it is.  It is bitter-sweet news, we would have been happy to adopt either one, but now we also know which one will almost definitely not be coming home with us.  We are so happy that she will have a home soon!  Now please help us pray that our home study process goes smoothly so we can announce to the world who our daughter is!

One Day at a Time

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.  What a wonderful holiday it is.  This Christmas was a very special one for Jason and I.  This Christmas we have decided to begin the journey of international adoption.  One day soon I hope to share with you how AMAZING God is and how he brought us to this point in our lives.  We are excited to begin this journey and know that it will likely bring many tears of frustration, sadness, and worry but hopefully in the end and throughout the process we will shed tears of happiness.  I welcome you to join us on this journey, during this exciting time in our lives.  Please feel free to comment on my posts but please be kind.  I know that there will be many who may not agree with our beliefs and decisions, but please be nice :)

So where are we in the adoption process, and who are we adopting and why?  Well, here goes:  We feel very strongly that God has called us to adoption.  After several years of knowing that someday we would adopt, and now several months researching the process we have decided to start.  Almost a year ago, during my search for adoption agencies I came across Reeces Rainbow.  They are an organization that promotes the international adoption of children of all ages with special needs.  After a few moths of slight interest in the website on my part, my husband, Jason said "OK, let's look into it" which was a miracle in itself (perhaps a discussion for another post).  Several months later (and another topic to be discussed in the near future) we decided that we would adopt a child with Down syndrome.  We started by communicating with some people from Reeces Rainbow and eventually were led to two children that we are now hoping to adopt.  From there we contacted a local adoption agency and filled out a preliminary application.  A few days later we found out that we qualified for the country we are looking to adopt from and started the formal application.  We just submitted our formal application to our agency before Christmas.  We are waiting to hear back from them now.  I know that this whole process will require a lot of waiting and patience on our part along with filling out mounds of paperwork.  Once we get our date for our home study we can officially commit to the children we hope to bring home.  I cannot wait to be able to make that announcement!

That is it for now.  I will post again soon, there is so much more to explain :)