We have had a super busy summer! Lots of fun time together, trip back to St. Louis, camps and VBS's, also some medical issues with our little girl which will result in a surgery soon, but altogether a fun summer which has been keeping us very busy.
On the adoption front, we got our dossier sent off and it should be completed and shipped off to China any day now. We received our fingerprint approval, I800A form, on July 10! Now we just wait on China to (prayerfully speedily) approve our documents and get us LID and Travel Approval! We are so hopeful to travel for him before the end of the year, but trusting in God's timing. It's so hard because every fun thing we do I feel like he is just missing out and I wish he could be here with us to start his life as part of our family. I wonder how he is doing and what he is eating and what he is learning and what he knows and just everything! We already love him so much and we want to share that with him.
We have been doing some fundraising to pay for our travel with our agency, buy our plane tickets when the time comes and pay for five of us in China. We were blessed to receive a matching grant that will cover most of what we will owe to our agency and we have a short term fundraiser and three longer term ones.
For the shorter term fundraiser, we have a Noonday show this Sunday. For any of you who do not know about Noonday, it is an amazing organization that allows women around the world to make jewelry and support their family and often help them to be able to keep their children and then people purchase the jewelry here in the states and raise money for adoptive families. Our Noonday show will be open online for a week starting this Sunday, so if you would like the information, please just leave a comment and I will be happy to get the information to you.
The longer term fundraisers we are doing are change jars (we have already had friends that have been so generous with these including two sweet boys at our church who took money that they had been saving up and donated it for our sweet boy!) which we are happy to provide to anyone, our T-shirts at adoptionbug.com and our virtual 5K. You can see information on all of these fundraisers at www.foreverhome.us.
We are getting ready to jump back into a more regular school schedule after the surgery and starting a new co-op with some new friends. Please continue to pray for our sweet boy and God preparing his heart for this big change coming up for him. We are so excited for so many firsts we will get to experience with him once he is here.
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
We started by documenting our Ethiopian adoption, which has now changed to pursuing a little boy waiting in China! We are trusting in God's plan and enjoying the journey.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Who Wants To Run A 5K?
Since I last posted, we have been moving along as quickly as possible with all of our paperwork. We received our completed home study and had all of the immigration documents ready to go, so we sent off our NBC application last week. Now we wait for approval and fingerprint appointments and then, after a few more pieces of paperwork, travel approval! It's so hard knowing that someone else is putting him to bed each night, and that he is missing out on being a part of a family, but I have also had many friends remind me that things will happen in God's time.
So the other two VERY exciting things that have happened is that we received our first grant (YIPPEE!) which is a matching grant, and our wonderful friend offered to put together a virtual 5K for us! The purpose of a matching grant is that we are awarded a grant of $2000 if we can raise $2000. This would then give us $4000 for our travel payment to our agency which includes our travel reservations, hotels, in country travel, etc. This is all very very exciting, but now we need to fundraise. This is where YOU get to play a part!
I am putting the link below where my eloquent friend describes a virtual 5K better than I could, but basically you can somehow move your body 5K (otherwise known as 3.1 miles) and you pay an entrance fee the same way you would for any other race and you get a beautiful medal and you get to be a part of our adoption journey and help one less child live as an orphan. We would love for as many people as possible to participate in this since it is a great way to exercise and to be part of a unique opportunity to help us fundraise and have your donation doubled by our matching grant. You don't even have to do the 5K all at one time. It can be broken up over days or however long you need. We are so grateful to our amazing friend for putting this all together for us and for supporting us in this way. Here's the link:
http://www.foreverhome.us
We have also had friends ask us how they can specifically pray for our adoption. What has really been on our hearts is to pray that our sweet little boy's heart is prepared. No matter how you look at it, it's a scary situation to be handed over to people you do not know, who do not speak your language, who cook differently and act differently and dress differently, and who you have never met before. We know that living in a family will be better than living in an orphanage, but he cannot know that. We trust God to be with him and help him, but we pray that he will specifically be prepared for this and to have a sense of joy and peace about it. We pray that the people around him can be preparing him for this and to help give him an idea of what will happen. We would be so appreciative if you joined us in praying for him.
Well, that's a lot of information for one blog post, so please check out the 5K website and I will keep everyone posted about any progress!
"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace." Acts 20:24
So the other two VERY exciting things that have happened is that we received our first grant (YIPPEE!) which is a matching grant, and our wonderful friend offered to put together a virtual 5K for us! The purpose of a matching grant is that we are awarded a grant of $2000 if we can raise $2000. This would then give us $4000 for our travel payment to our agency which includes our travel reservations, hotels, in country travel, etc. This is all very very exciting, but now we need to fundraise. This is where YOU get to play a part!
I am putting the link below where my eloquent friend describes a virtual 5K better than I could, but basically you can somehow move your body 5K (otherwise known as 3.1 miles) and you pay an entrance fee the same way you would for any other race and you get a beautiful medal and you get to be a part of our adoption journey and help one less child live as an orphan. We would love for as many people as possible to participate in this since it is a great way to exercise and to be part of a unique opportunity to help us fundraise and have your donation doubled by our matching grant. You don't even have to do the 5K all at one time. It can be broken up over days or however long you need. We are so grateful to our amazing friend for putting this all together for us and for supporting us in this way. Here's the link:
http://www.foreverhome.us
We have also had friends ask us how they can specifically pray for our adoption. What has really been on our hearts is to pray that our sweet little boy's heart is prepared. No matter how you look at it, it's a scary situation to be handed over to people you do not know, who do not speak your language, who cook differently and act differently and dress differently, and who you have never met before. We know that living in a family will be better than living in an orphanage, but he cannot know that. We trust God to be with him and help him, but we pray that he will specifically be prepared for this and to have a sense of joy and peace about it. We pray that the people around him can be preparing him for this and to help give him an idea of what will happen. We would be so appreciative if you joined us in praying for him.
Well, that's a lot of information for one blog post, so please check out the 5K website and I will keep everyone posted about any progress!
"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace." Acts 20:24
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Birthday Pictures!!
We are so excited to share that we got to see five pictures yesterday of our sweet little boy at his birthday party!! I can't show his face, so I've cropped the picture here so you can at least see his beautiful smile. When I can post pictures of him, though, it will be apparent how gorgeous he is. I absolutely cannot wait to have him in our house and get to wake up and see him every day. We have been doing some preparations for him-a book here, a shirt there, the girls picked out a doggie pillow and blanket for him. It's hard not to go crazy, but I know that we still have time and that we need our money right now for things like fees and the girls passports and saving for our trip. Still, it is so exciting to look ahead and know that prayerfully he will be with us by next summer, by his next birthday and by the next winter.
Adoption is such a mix of excitement, waiting, sadness, joy and everything all over again. I have read so many people's adoption blogs and everyone's experience is so different. I'm learning that is why our relationship with God is so important. God will provide what we need, but what each of us need is different and only God knows what is needed now and what is coming ahead. If you are even considering adoption, though, I encourage you to pray about it and see how God can use your life to play a part in helping the orphans around the world. It is a very worthwhile experience!!!
Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall,
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:30-31
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Happy Birthday Sweet Boy
To our sweet boy,
Today is your fourth birthday. We sent you a cake, so prayerfully you will get it around your birthday. We do not know if you ever celebrated your birthday or understand the fun of being a new age. We do not even know if someone left a note so you know your true birthday, or if someone chose this day because it was a good guess. We know that God knows when you were created and when you were born and He celebrated you.
Although I am happy that you are reaching a new milestone, it makes me so sad that we have missed four years of your life now. I wish it wasn't that way, but all we can do now is look to the future and plan to always make your birthdays special, as well as each day we are blessed enough to get to spend with you.
I also think about another mom somewhere in China. Does she get sad every year around now missing you and wondering how you are doing? Does she wonder if you are still in China, or if you have been adopted somewhere? Does she think about the situation around your birth and the six months that she got to spend with you? I wish that I could at least put some of her worries to rest and let her know that you are going to be part of a family. Maybe someday we will be able to make this happen with God's help.
Someday we will get to tell you how on your fourth birthday we were already making plans for you and praying for you and we already loved you as a part of our family. Someday we can tell you that when you turned four, we were finishing up our dossier paperwork and praying that things would go speedily and that we could go and get you in record time. We can tell you that we thought about you when you turned four in China at midnight, and again around 7 am when we thought you might be waking up, and again when you would be eating lunch and then we celebrated you on the date of your birth in America. Someday we can talk to you and help you to celebrate the joy of your birthday, as well as help you deal with any sadness of this day that makes you think about all of the questions you have about the parents that you knew the day that you were born. We know you won't get to celebrate with the family who has been with you since birth like your sisters do and I'm so sorry that you have already had loss and sadness in your little life.
Know though, sweet boy, that we are celebrating you! We are thankful to God for you! We are so grateful that you were brought into this earth four years ago today and we pray that God gives you a peace and a joy today in knowing that you are loved and wanted. Happy Birthday!!
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14
Today is your fourth birthday. We sent you a cake, so prayerfully you will get it around your birthday. We do not know if you ever celebrated your birthday or understand the fun of being a new age. We do not even know if someone left a note so you know your true birthday, or if someone chose this day because it was a good guess. We know that God knows when you were created and when you were born and He celebrated you.
Although I am happy that you are reaching a new milestone, it makes me so sad that we have missed four years of your life now. I wish it wasn't that way, but all we can do now is look to the future and plan to always make your birthdays special, as well as each day we are blessed enough to get to spend with you.
I also think about another mom somewhere in China. Does she get sad every year around now missing you and wondering how you are doing? Does she wonder if you are still in China, or if you have been adopted somewhere? Does she think about the situation around your birth and the six months that she got to spend with you? I wish that I could at least put some of her worries to rest and let her know that you are going to be part of a family. Maybe someday we will be able to make this happen with God's help.
Someday we will get to tell you how on your fourth birthday we were already making plans for you and praying for you and we already loved you as a part of our family. Someday we can tell you that when you turned four, we were finishing up our dossier paperwork and praying that things would go speedily and that we could go and get you in record time. We can tell you that we thought about you when you turned four in China at midnight, and again around 7 am when we thought you might be waking up, and again when you would be eating lunch and then we celebrated you on the date of your birth in America. Someday we can talk to you and help you to celebrate the joy of your birthday, as well as help you deal with any sadness of this day that makes you think about all of the questions you have about the parents that you knew the day that you were born. We know you won't get to celebrate with the family who has been with you since birth like your sisters do and I'm so sorry that you have already had loss and sadness in your little life.
Know though, sweet boy, that we are celebrating you! We are thankful to God for you! We are so grateful that you were brought into this earth four years ago today and we pray that God gives you a peace and a joy today in knowing that you are loved and wanted. Happy Birthday!!
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14
Saturday, March 15, 2014
March Fundraiser
Happy Halfway Through March! We are still promoting our T-shirt fundraiser to celebrate Jenn's 40th birthday month. We have had friends, family and friends of friends and family help us out in this way, and we have already made a little over $100! Thank you so much to everyone who has purchased a shirt, and if you haven't, please feel free to take a look at what is being sold on the site. You do have to order through our link:
www.adoptionbug.com/ryanfamilyroundup
So, in adoption news, we received our PA, so we were approved to send our little one care packages! We probably would have waited to send him a package, but his fourth birthday is next week, so we wanted to send him a package and add-on a cake for him. From what we hear, most children in orphanages do not celebrate their birthday, so we wanted to be able to show him a picture of the earliest birthday that we could and when you send a cake the orphanage is required to send back pictures so that they show that they are using the money that was sent for the cake that you ordered. We didn't know if we would be able to get his package sent to him this month, but the lady in China who sends the packages got back to us right away and sent out the package a day later! Mind you, this also included her translating our 500 word letter!
So, I looked at a variety of blogs to see what people send their child in a package. We used a package service that our agency recommended which saves us on shipping and she purchases the items in China. So, we were able to send a letter to him and we also included a letter for the people who take care of him, we added on a six photo book of each of us, him and our family, we added on a reading book for him because he might as well get used to looking at books if he's going to be in this family, we included a camera and film for the workers, and then we added on the birthday cake for him.
I can't even imagine what he will be thinking when he gets these items. I've been praying so much that God would help him to be excited and not nervous, and that people around him will explain things to him and help him to understand the huge change that will be coming up in his life. I don't know if he has seen other children get packages or what the caretakers tell the children about adoption. I love finding ways to help children understand things, and it is very difficult that I can't even help with the process to explain to our own son what is going to happen to him and to help prepare him for the biggest change of his little life. It's teaching me such reliance on God, because I have to trust that God is preparing him and bringing people to him that will help him until we can get there and love on him and help his transition.
We are almost done with our dossier paperwork and we had our last homestudy visit, so prayerfully we are planning to get everything mailed in during April. We also have some fun fundraisers coming up in the coming months including an amazing virtual 5K that our great friend is setting up for us. We are also beginning to apply for grants, although most of them need a completed home study for us to be eligible. I can't even express how excited we all are! We have started studying Mandarin and I even bought him his first hawaiian shirt last week and his very first homeschool book today!
Thank you so much to everyone for prayers and support!!
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 (Although I would encourage everyone to read all of Hebrews 11)
www.adoptionbug.com/ryanfamilyroundup
So, in adoption news, we received our PA, so we were approved to send our little one care packages! We probably would have waited to send him a package, but his fourth birthday is next week, so we wanted to send him a package and add-on a cake for him. From what we hear, most children in orphanages do not celebrate their birthday, so we wanted to be able to show him a picture of the earliest birthday that we could and when you send a cake the orphanage is required to send back pictures so that they show that they are using the money that was sent for the cake that you ordered. We didn't know if we would be able to get his package sent to him this month, but the lady in China who sends the packages got back to us right away and sent out the package a day later! Mind you, this also included her translating our 500 word letter!
So, I looked at a variety of blogs to see what people send their child in a package. We used a package service that our agency recommended which saves us on shipping and she purchases the items in China. So, we were able to send a letter to him and we also included a letter for the people who take care of him, we added on a six photo book of each of us, him and our family, we added on a reading book for him because he might as well get used to looking at books if he's going to be in this family, we included a camera and film for the workers, and then we added on the birthday cake for him.
I can't even imagine what he will be thinking when he gets these items. I've been praying so much that God would help him to be excited and not nervous, and that people around him will explain things to him and help him to understand the huge change that will be coming up in his life. I don't know if he has seen other children get packages or what the caretakers tell the children about adoption. I love finding ways to help children understand things, and it is very difficult that I can't even help with the process to explain to our own son what is going to happen to him and to help prepare him for the biggest change of his little life. It's teaching me such reliance on God, because I have to trust that God is preparing him and bringing people to him that will help him until we can get there and love on him and help his transition.
We are almost done with our dossier paperwork and we had our last homestudy visit, so prayerfully we are planning to get everything mailed in during April. We also have some fun fundraisers coming up in the coming months including an amazing virtual 5K that our great friend is setting up for us. We are also beginning to apply for grants, although most of them need a completed home study for us to be eligible. I can't even express how excited we all are! We have started studying Mandarin and I even bought him his first hawaiian shirt last week and his very first homeschool book today!
Thank you so much to everyone for prayers and support!!
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1 (Although I would encourage everyone to read all of Hebrews 11)
Friday, February 28, 2014
Celebrate Jenn's 40th Birthday Month!!
Happy March everyone!! This month Jennifer turns 40 and in honor of her birthday, we are doing a month long fundraiser. We found this great website that allows adoptive parents to choose 6 T-shirt designs and receive a portion of the sales for each T-shirt. We are so grateful for such a wonderful fundraiser and we are excited to be a part of it!
So, if you are ready to shop for a new T-shirt for summer, you need to go through our family's link for adoption bug:
We are so very grateful for any prayers and support! We will keep this fundraiser going through the whole month of March.
In adoption news, we were received our official Pre-Approval (PA) this week, so we can send our little guy packages now. We are also on our way with our home study and we will prayerfully have that completed soon as well as the remaining dossier documents. This is such a different process than our Ethiopia process which was so indefinite and obscure for who and when and how long. I feel like that experience prepared us for the steps that we would go through this time, just at a much faster pace.
I will keep everyone posted about our progress and news. Thank you so much to everyone!!
"By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures." Proverbs 24:3-4
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Huge News!!
So, I've noticed that whenever I don't write anything for a couple of months, then I am making a big announcement. Short of moving to another state, this is pretty big and exciting news!
I will try to make this long story as short as possible. When we moved to Texas, we were already discussing the possibility of adding on a second and simultaneous adoption. We knew that Ethiopia was still going to be a wait for a referral more than likely and we were excited about the possibility of adopting a waiting child from another county in the mean time. So, we knew that we weren't going to do anything definite until we were a little settled in Texas, so we prayed and did a webinar with our agency about a new partnership in China. We definitely knew that we were interested, so we prayed some more and settled into our new home.
One of the things that we have always felt very passionate about is that we wanted to be a family who could adopt a child who needed a home. We did not want to be a family who needed a child to fit into our criteria or meet our need. This may seem like two ways of saying the same thing, but basically we did not want to create a perfect on paper child and wait for that child to appear. We wanted to be very open to children who need homes. For anyone who has gone through adoption you know that this is difficult since you have to fill out tons of forms stating what age, gender, and array of disabilities that you are open to.
So, fast forward to January and we were ready to begin our home study update process and decide what our home study was focusing on. We talked to our agency about joining the China program and she asked us if we were interested in pursuing any of the waiting children listed on their website. More praying, discussing and we decided to pursue a beautiful little boy on the waiting children list! So, we started madly working on the paperwork since we have now been matched with him and we are working towards getting to go and get a child whose picture we have already seen and whose beautiful little face and heart we are already praying for!! I want to be careful about how much I share on here about him to keep his details private, but he will be four years old next month and he has had spinal surgery and he walks with braces and a walker. He is the cutest thing ever and the update received in December calls him a "ball of fire".
Part two of our news is that we also started getting some emails from our agency about the changes happening in Ethiopia as they work very hard right now to make sure that all adoptions are done ethically. Although this is always good to make sure that children are protected, while the changes are occurring it usually means lots of slow downs and extra red tape for the families in the process. Our agency was offering a short term help to parents in the Ethiopia program who wanted to transfer programs to allow our agency fees to transfer. Although it seemed like such a disappointing way to end our almost three year process of trying to adopt from Ethiopia, we terminated our contract with Ethiopia and switched completely to only pursuing a China adoption. We of course had very mixed feelings about this after planning and praying for a child from Africa for years, but God asks us to trust. He does not assure us that we will understand the reasons.
So, for now please pray for our process, our preparations and most importantly our sweet little boy's heart to be prepared for this big change that he probably does not even know about. We are looking into some fundraising that we will post about here soon, because we are flying through the process since we are trying to get him as quickly as we can and that does mean that all of the funds are coming due more quickly as we already have a referral. We have such faith and peace, though about God's provisions for our family to grow in this way.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and following our journey. We will keep you posted on our progress. Oh, and I guess we will also change some things about our blog since we are no longer "blogging our journey to adopt a child from Ethiopia from our home in St. Louis".
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13
I will try to make this long story as short as possible. When we moved to Texas, we were already discussing the possibility of adding on a second and simultaneous adoption. We knew that Ethiopia was still going to be a wait for a referral more than likely and we were excited about the possibility of adopting a waiting child from another county in the mean time. So, we knew that we weren't going to do anything definite until we were a little settled in Texas, so we prayed and did a webinar with our agency about a new partnership in China. We definitely knew that we were interested, so we prayed some more and settled into our new home.
One of the things that we have always felt very passionate about is that we wanted to be a family who could adopt a child who needed a home. We did not want to be a family who needed a child to fit into our criteria or meet our need. This may seem like two ways of saying the same thing, but basically we did not want to create a perfect on paper child and wait for that child to appear. We wanted to be very open to children who need homes. For anyone who has gone through adoption you know that this is difficult since you have to fill out tons of forms stating what age, gender, and array of disabilities that you are open to.
So, fast forward to January and we were ready to begin our home study update process and decide what our home study was focusing on. We talked to our agency about joining the China program and she asked us if we were interested in pursuing any of the waiting children listed on their website. More praying, discussing and we decided to pursue a beautiful little boy on the waiting children list! So, we started madly working on the paperwork since we have now been matched with him and we are working towards getting to go and get a child whose picture we have already seen and whose beautiful little face and heart we are already praying for!! I want to be careful about how much I share on here about him to keep his details private, but he will be four years old next month and he has had spinal surgery and he walks with braces and a walker. He is the cutest thing ever and the update received in December calls him a "ball of fire".
Part two of our news is that we also started getting some emails from our agency about the changes happening in Ethiopia as they work very hard right now to make sure that all adoptions are done ethically. Although this is always good to make sure that children are protected, while the changes are occurring it usually means lots of slow downs and extra red tape for the families in the process. Our agency was offering a short term help to parents in the Ethiopia program who wanted to transfer programs to allow our agency fees to transfer. Although it seemed like such a disappointing way to end our almost three year process of trying to adopt from Ethiopia, we terminated our contract with Ethiopia and switched completely to only pursuing a China adoption. We of course had very mixed feelings about this after planning and praying for a child from Africa for years, but God asks us to trust. He does not assure us that we will understand the reasons.
So, for now please pray for our process, our preparations and most importantly our sweet little boy's heart to be prepared for this big change that he probably does not even know about. We are looking into some fundraising that we will post about here soon, because we are flying through the process since we are trying to get him as quickly as we can and that does mean that all of the funds are coming due more quickly as we already have a referral. We have such faith and peace, though about God's provisions for our family to grow in this way.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us and following our journey. We will keep you posted on our progress. Oh, and I guess we will also change some things about our blog since we are no longer "blogging our journey to adopt a child from Ethiopia from our home in St. Louis".
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13
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