We watched the journey of family and friends who adopted, heard their stories, knew their struggles, and had heard time and time again "there is nothing easy about adopting". We are still very early on in this process (likely 2-3 years before we have our kids home), and are already starting to see how difficult the waiting is, how difficult the not knowing is, how difficult the "its out of our control" is. And yet we know, without out a doubt, this is what God has asked us to do here where we are and now in our lives.
Today, I read a post from a blog of some folks serving in Haiti that Abbie's grandma had posted on Facebook. It's really really good, and thought I'd share it here on our blog. Beware, this will give you some great insight into Haiti, but also be a great challenge to your own life.
http://mshaiti.blogspot.com/2015/12/dirty-is-why-we-are-here.html?m=1
We are also excited to share that we have a date for our home visit! January 20th we'll be spending the afternoon with our social worker in our home, sharing about our life and family, so she can write the home study report we need to file our official application for adoption in Haiti. Please pray for us these next 5 or so weeks leading up to our home visit as we finish up some "parent training" and "adoption preparation" classes.
Hope you are all able to enjoy this great Christmas season, and able to remember and reflect on the reality that God took on the mess and flesh of humanity to come into this broken place and our broken lives to show us His great love for us!
Merry Christmas!
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Thursday, September 17, 2015
The Benefits of Technology
There are some things about having and using technology that are pretty incredible. For example, I have a weather app on my phone that shows the weather, humidity, allergy information and UV intensity (as well as other things) for our area of the world. One thing I often catch myself doing throughout the day is checking out the temperatures and current conditions in Haiti at the same time.
Yesterday was incredibly rainy and chilly; a soup and homemade bread kind of day. We wore layers of clothes, made hot meals, and snuggled up under blankets with cups of tea. Of course I was checking out the weather on my app many times throughout the day to see how much rain had fallen and what the temperature was. Here the temp was in the 40s and in Haiti? It was 89 degrees with a "real feel" of 99. Whoa!! Talk about different!
As I checked on the weather and waited in line with Paul and the girls to get our fingerprinting done for the next part of the adoption process, I was reminded of just how much of a culture shock our children will have. Weather just being a smidgen of what they will experience.
My prayers today revolve around all the extreme differences our children will face when they come home and praying that Paul and I will have wisdom to help them adjust to all the "new" they will be facing when they come home.
Isaiah 43:19
"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Yesterday was incredibly rainy and chilly; a soup and homemade bread kind of day. We wore layers of clothes, made hot meals, and snuggled up under blankets with cups of tea. Of course I was checking out the weather on my app many times throughout the day to see how much rain had fallen and what the temperature was. Here the temp was in the 40s and in Haiti? It was 89 degrees with a "real feel" of 99. Whoa!! Talk about different!
As I checked on the weather and waited in line with Paul and the girls to get our fingerprinting done for the next part of the adoption process, I was reminded of just how much of a culture shock our children will have. Weather just being a smidgen of what they will experience.
My prayers today revolve around all the extreme differences our children will face when they come home and praying that Paul and I will have wisdom to help them adjust to all the "new" they will be facing when they come home.
Isaiah 43:19
"See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Thankful for YOU: Audio Adrenaline - Kings & Queens
Today I am overcome with gratitude for people all over the world who are a part of orphan care. I have heard many times this past summer of people joining trips to go all over the planet to serve people and bring the love of Jesus. There were/are many people who went/are going to Haiti as well.
I am so grateful for these people who are giving of their time, vacations, comfort, and money to serve the people of Haiti. I was thinking about how each person going may not think that they are doing much, but it means the world to Paul and I. YOU who are going, thank you!! YOU may be holding and loving and playing with our child/children. YOU may be painting their orphanage, giving them lovely colors to see. YOU may be feeding them, and serving them. YOU may be giving medical care to our children/child or loving and helping and caring for their birth mother. You may be helping to set up programs that help families in poverty stay together. These thoughts overtake me and my imagination can keep going with all the ways YOU make an impact.
I am so very thankful for YOU who support children financially around the world so that children can attend school and get an education. Support also helps families stay together, lessoning the financial load of a family and allowing their children the ability to learn and get free meals each day.
**THANK YOU for loving well!!**
Matthew 25:40 NIV
"The King will reply, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
**If you are interested in helping in Haiti specifically check out the Hands and Feet Project and see all the amazing things they are doing to impact and serve Haiti. Such amazing things happening!!**
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
Moving Things Along
Wow, did August come and go just like that? We didn't even get a blog post written, but it was a good month of plowing through paperwork and moving closer to the goal of getting our Dossier compiled and off to Haiti. This past weekend we were able to check off the final items on our task list in order to get a homestudy visit scheduled. Hopefully later this week or next we'll hear from a social worker and get our home visit scheduled to happen here in September! While we are waiting for that, we'll try knock off a few other tasks and documents we need to collect for our placing agency in order that once the home study is completed and the report is written we'll be able to certify everything in our dossier and hopefully get it mailed off to Haiti in October!
Thanks for your continued prayer and all the kind words of encouragement; as well as asking how the process is going. Sometimes that's a hard question to answer as things are slow, and honestly not exactly exciting… but we know they are necessary and they are helping us toward the day when we'll bring that precious child(ren) home! God has blessed us immensely with loving family and friends, and by providing just what we've needed in order to pay for each fee as its been due while we've moved along in this process step by step.
Thanks for your continued prayer and all the kind words of encouragement; as well as asking how the process is going. Sometimes that's a hard question to answer as things are slow, and honestly not exactly exciting… but we know they are necessary and they are helping us toward the day when we'll bring that precious child(ren) home! God has blessed us immensely with loving family and friends, and by providing just what we've needed in order to pay for each fee as its been due while we've moved along in this process step by step.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
He Owns it All
Paul wrote about being overwhelmed by so many things, today I am overwhelmed by God's provision.
To step out in faith and know that this is the path you are to be following with God and your family is scary. There are times when I can think, "did I hear you right God?"And yet, HE brings me peace as we take each step forward. One of the steps forward is financially. There have been some neat ways God has already shown up and provided EXACTLY what we needed at the right time, by moving in the hearts of different people. It has never been too much, but just the right amount at the right time.
Our little garage sale we hosted to help towards the adoption went well, as did Zoë's little lemonade stand. It was such a blessing to see Zoë follow through with her idea of making a lemonade stand and then to have it succeed. She was so excited!
All this to say, that there are times when worry and anxiety can sneak in when it comes to financial situations. And yet:
Psalm 50:10 "for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills."
I can remember that HE does indeed own it all. We will still have to sacrifice, but God can and will show up in this process in some cool ways. Not to make much of us, but to bring glory to HIS name.
To step out in faith and know that this is the path you are to be following with God and your family is scary. There are times when I can think, "did I hear you right God?"And yet, HE brings me peace as we take each step forward. One of the steps forward is financially. There have been some neat ways God has already shown up and provided EXACTLY what we needed at the right time, by moving in the hearts of different people. It has never been too much, but just the right amount at the right time.
Our little garage sale we hosted to help towards the adoption went well, as did Zoë's little lemonade stand. It was such a blessing to see Zoë follow through with her idea of making a lemonade stand and then to have it succeed. She was so excited!
All this to say, that there are times when worry and anxiety can sneak in when it comes to financial situations. And yet:
Psalm 50:10 "for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills."
I can remember that HE does indeed own it all. We will still have to sacrifice, but God can and will show up in this process in some cool ways. Not to make much of us, but to bring glory to HIS name.
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Overwhelming
Overwhelming; that might be the most accurate word to depict how this first couple weeks of the adoption Journey has been.
Overwhelming … in the amount of support and encouragement we've received from family and friends as we've begun to share about our journey and invite others to join us on it.
Overwhelming … to realized the amount of faith it takes to release our financial security and comfort (goodbye saving account) in order to follow God's leading and truly trust that He is our provider * Jehovah Jireh *.
Overwhelming … how much paperwork we must compile and things that are required as a part of our home study. In the words of our adoption agency, "happy paper chasing"!
Overwhelming … excitement as we think about who the Lord going to welcome into our family and who we get to love as our very own; just as God loves us!
This journey of adopting, even in its embryonic stage, has begun to show us the overwhelming love of Christ in a greater way and the overwhelming purpose His mission has for our life. For maybe one of the first times in our life we can say we are overwhelmed and loving it!
Overwhelming … in the amount of support and encouragement we've received from family and friends as we've begun to share about our journey and invite others to join us on it.
Overwhelming … to realized the amount of faith it takes to release our financial security and comfort (goodbye saving account) in order to follow God's leading and truly trust that He is our provider * Jehovah Jireh *.
Overwhelming … how much paperwork we must compile and things that are required as a part of our home study. In the words of our adoption agency, "happy paper chasing"!
Overwhelming … excitement as we think about who the Lord going to welcome into our family and who we get to love as our very own; just as God loves us!
This journey of adopting, even in its embryonic stage, has begun to show us the overwhelming love of Christ in a greater way and the overwhelming purpose His mission has for our life. For maybe one of the first times in our life we can say we are overwhelmed and loving it!
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
The Beginning
How do I start? How do I correctly reveal the state of our hearts before deciding to adopt and after? How do you explain to someone the depth of KNOWING without a shadow of a doubt that this journey is EXACTLY what you are called and designed to walk through?
I'm not even sure where to exactly start. I've always loved adoption and the families it creates. I had never really thought that our family was called to adopt. Probably the first thing I can point to is attending a church service in Portland, OR at Westside A Jesus Church December 16, 2012. Here is the link to the podcast: click here . (Let me just warn you up front that this is a challenging message to listen to!) I left the service with a seed planted in my heart and an agitation (which was a good thing) for the plight of the fatherless. I prayed about it and then told Paul what was on my heart.
There was no movement.
2013 came and started and the seed of adoption kept growing. I felt that I needed to attend an adoption conference to find out more about adoption in general from foster care, to domestic adoption to international and how to be a part of helping orphans. I attended an amazing adoption conference with Tara Bradford and a team of wonderful women from Journey church in Bozeman, MT. I learned so much! I was both excited at the prospect of adoption, and felt renewed in our efforts to work with a school (CGA in Kenya) that works with the fatherless. I received wonderful advice from the women attending and I am so thankful for their words and encouragement.
I waited and prayed.
As a family we decided to open our home to an exchange student for the 2013-2014 school year. It fell through.
2014 came and an opportunity to host a student from China came to us. We said yes right away! We had already decided as a family to host so adding Tao to our family was a no brainer! She was amazing to have! We love her dearly and cant believe the year is already done! She is precious to us and I now have a daughter from China!
As her year with us came to an end, Paul and I had a serious talk and adoption came up. It was a definite calling to both of us and a 100% yes from us both and our kids. Crazy!! We are starting!! We were told that we would be put on a waiting list to start the process. Ok, that's fine. We were told it probably wouldn't open for us until sometime this fall or more likely next spring. We really thought that we had a little bit if time to organize our lives a little bit. HA!! Nope!! It went fast and we were called in May to say they had an opening and we could apply to adopt and begin the process with adoption in Haiti. WHAT!?!?! REALLY?!?!?! Whoa!! Here we go! So now here we are!
Paul and I both decided on Haiti for the adoptions because we have both been to the country and experienced the culture and the amazing people. Again, we have a huge peace that this is what we are to be pursuing. We know this is a long process and we are praying that you will walk alongside of us in prayer as we go along this journey.
Psalm 68:5-6a
5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
6 God sets the lonely in families,
I'm not even sure where to exactly start. I've always loved adoption and the families it creates. I had never really thought that our family was called to adopt. Probably the first thing I can point to is attending a church service in Portland, OR at Westside A Jesus Church December 16, 2012. Here is the link to the podcast: click here . (Let me just warn you up front that this is a challenging message to listen to!) I left the service with a seed planted in my heart and an agitation (which was a good thing) for the plight of the fatherless. I prayed about it and then told Paul what was on my heart.
There was no movement.
2013 came and started and the seed of adoption kept growing. I felt that I needed to attend an adoption conference to find out more about adoption in general from foster care, to domestic adoption to international and how to be a part of helping orphans. I attended an amazing adoption conference with Tara Bradford and a team of wonderful women from Journey church in Bozeman, MT. I learned so much! I was both excited at the prospect of adoption, and felt renewed in our efforts to work with a school (CGA in Kenya) that works with the fatherless. I received wonderful advice from the women attending and I am so thankful for their words and encouragement.
I waited and prayed.
As a family we decided to open our home to an exchange student for the 2013-2014 school year. It fell through.
2014 came and an opportunity to host a student from China came to us. We said yes right away! We had already decided as a family to host so adding Tao to our family was a no brainer! She was amazing to have! We love her dearly and cant believe the year is already done! She is precious to us and I now have a daughter from China!
As her year with us came to an end, Paul and I had a serious talk and adoption came up. It was a definite calling to both of us and a 100% yes from us both and our kids. Crazy!! We are starting!! We were told that we would be put on a waiting list to start the process. Ok, that's fine. We were told it probably wouldn't open for us until sometime this fall or more likely next spring. We really thought that we had a little bit if time to organize our lives a little bit. HA!! Nope!! It went fast and we were called in May to say they had an opening and we could apply to adopt and begin the process with adoption in Haiti. WHAT!?!?! REALLY?!?!?! Whoa!! Here we go! So now here we are!
Paul and I both decided on Haiti for the adoptions because we have both been to the country and experienced the culture and the amazing people. Again, we have a huge peace that this is what we are to be pursuing. We know this is a long process and we are praying that you will walk alongside of us in prayer as we go along this journey.
Psalm 68:5-6a
5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
6 God sets the lonely in families,
Friday, June 26, 2015
2015
So far I have only been writing a once a year blog post. This is soon to change! I will keep you all updated as we begin a new journey. It's exciting and we will definitely need you all to walk with us in prayer.
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