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!

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.

Sorry for the lack of posts...

I have been so terrible at posting lately and am sorry for that!  Things here have been a roller coaster ride of sorts!

Last Sunday was my birthday, Happy Birthday to me!  It was also Fathers Day!  Jason and I spent a nice morning together, he made me breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast :)  We had a good time at Church and spent the afternoon together before heading over to his parents house for a nice dinner with his parents and grandmothers.

Jason is such an amazing husband and I thank God for him every day.  We have come a long way in the nearly ten years we have been together.  We cannot wait to really begin the journey of parenting.  Jason is so excited tat he even "helped" Claudia pick out a birthday present for me! 

Isn't he just too awesome!  I did have to point out that it says for ages 4+ but he says we will help her!  Haha, I love that man!  She also "gave" me a card:

I love it!

This past weekend on Thursday, Friday and Saturday we had our BIG garage sale.  You would not believe how huge it was.  Seriously!  We had the garage and sun porch completely full PLUS the equivalent of 5-6 tables in the driveway, two huge tarps in the driveway, a retaining wall covered in items and the stuff on the ground!  It was A TON of work but it went very well.  Overall we made a little more than $800 for the adoption including the donations.  We had some wonderful friends posting about the sale on Facebook and I posted it 3 times on craigslist.  We had a great turn out on all three days!  My 6th (ok now 7th) graders Abby and Grace showed up to help out on Friday, they did an awesome job!  I love those girlies :)  The sale was sooo much work.  We spent several evenings tagging and setting up everything, trying to organize it and then getting it outside WOW, garage sales are very tiring.  Today I am just trying to relax, I am whipped but it was so worth it.  I got to spread the word about Reeces Rainbow and the troubles that children with special needs face in other countries.  The postings that our friends did on facebook not only brought people to our sale but has also helped bring money in from outside of the sale, how awesome is that!?  The leftover items from the sale will be donated to our Church's yard sale benefiting our special needs ministry called the Friendship Ministry.  Win, Win, Win for everyone!

I want to thank everyone who donated items for our sale and everyone who posted and re posted about it on Facebook.  It is because of you that it was such a success.  You are all such wonderful people, THANK YOU!

After a nice week it ended with some not-so-good news.  We are still running into difficulties with our agency about our psychological report.  They don't like the way it was done and are requesting more changes that our Psychologist does not seem to think need to be made.  Please pray that they can overcome their differences and do what is right by us and for Claudia.  We are on hold until this can all be resolved and we are unsure of how long it could hold us up, possibly for 3-4 weeks.  We do not want that at all!

More to come as we get more info.

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!

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.

The Husband Speaks!

So, now that Angie has finally allowed me to post on here, I figured the time was ripe for my first ever blog post.

First things first: A lot of people that I haven't been able to catch up with for a while probably think that this is really out of character for me. 

I completely agree.  This is a good thing, really.

My "character" is selfish, prideful, quick-tempered and lazy.  If something I'm doing now is out of character for who I've been for most of my life, I know I'm doing something that's heading me in the right direction.

The person that I want to be is not who I have been, so the more out of character I act, the better.

Second: The first thing that most people (outside of my Cross Creek family) ask me when I tell them that Angie and I are being called by God to adopt a soon to be 3 year old girl with special needs from Latin (/South) America is "Are you crazy!?" To which the answer is of course: "Yes, quite."

If you had tried to tell me a couple of years ago that I would ever be the kind of person who says stuff like "I know this is what God wants me to do right now" I would have laughed in your face and walked away. 

I do NOT cry.  Ever.  I make Chuck Norris look like a big softie.  But when I think about meeting our little girl for the first time - wondering if she'll hug me, or be afraid of me - I come close to tearing up.  We don't know if she can walk, or talk or what her level of independence is, or will ever be, but I love that little girl more than my own life. 

If the change that's taken place in me isn't proof that God is real, and working in people's hearts and lives, I don't know what is.

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 :)

Reeces Rainbow in the news

I wanted to share with you this story from ABC News that follows a faimly adopting a beautiful girl with Down syndrome from the Ukraine.  This story only begins to describe the life that little Mia would have had to endure if she was not adopted quickly.  The family found Mia on Reeces Rainbow.  See it here: Mia's Story.

As for us and our story, we have our Home Study application in and are waiting to hear back from the agency.  Once we get our date for our first visit we can officially commit to our daughter and we can show the world who it is we are adopting.  Please pray for a smooth procees!

Warp Speed

Now that we have been approved to adopt I feel like things are moving at warp speed. Of course I know this will most likely be short lived as I know how slow the adoption process can be! We have found a local agency to prepare our international home study and now have to get appointments with our doctor and take our parenting class.

Right now we are working hard to come up with the funding for the initial fees for the adoption. We will have to pay for our home study, our parenting class, and our agency fees. These fees are all due soon. As you will see I have added a "Chip in" gidget to the blog on the right. This allows our family, friends and supporters to help us with the costs of the adoption. "Chip in" works through Paypal. The negative about "Chip in" is that it the donations are not tax deductible. The good part about it is that the funds will be deposited directly into our paypal account and can be used immediately for the adoption expenses. Soon (hopefully) we will be officially commited to the child we are seeking and Reeces Rainbow will have our page available.  Once this is up and running you will be able to make donations to us through them which will be tax deductible but will not be able to be used by us until we are ready to travel.

I will be selling some wonderful and unique items through my blog in the near future as I have some amazing family and friends who will be helping me with this.  You can also help fund the adpotion by purchasing items through my Etsy shop Simplyvintagefun.

We are humbled to have to ask for help, but God has asked us to put our trust in Him to povide us the means to follow through with this adoption.  Please do not feel obligated to donate to us.  We ask that all donations be given lovingly and not grudgingly.  We appreciate every bit of help that can be given. 

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 :)