When life gets tough...

A lot of people have been asking lately where were are at on our adoption journey and how things are going, I love this! I love that people are genuinely interested. My heart is full!

It has been a tough  couple of weeks in our family. As many of you know, my step-dad passed away at the end of last month (Jan 28th.) Though he had been battling cancer, he was doing fairly well and his passing was an incredible shock. I spent a couple days in a stage of disbelief trying to come to terms with the fact that he was actually gone; that he wouldn't be walking in the door or he wouldn't be making wise-cracks or laughing his contagious laugh. Derek, Griffin and I boarded a train and took the long ride out to WA to be with my family for a week, to remember and to celebrate Scott. Our church was so kind and helped make it possible financially for the three of us to go.  As much as I don't recommend taking a baby on a long train ride, the trip out and back was rather uneventful. We had an awesome celebration in honor of Scott and spent quite a lot of time healing. However I know that there will be hard days still yet to come. Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to heal.

While we were helping plan the celebration and trying to be support for my mom, I felt like I needed to do something productive for our little boy who is waiting. So we went and got certified copies of our marriage certificate while we were running other errands. That small act felt huge, I felt like something in life was going in the right direction because everything else felt so wrong. Sometimes this adoption process feels like nothing is happening; that things are moving far too slowly, but then I remember that God is in control and he knows the timing of everything.

Right now we have nothing new to report. We are still waiting on a couple things to officially start our home study. Things are taking a little longer than normal and we aren't 100% sure why this is happening. We got news last week that we need to HURRY and that we may lose the little guy to a family in country (this is a devastating reality and one of the hard parts of adoption. There are no guarantees.) We are moving as fast as we can at this point, and we are trusting in God's awesome plan that he will lead us as long as we choose to keep following.

Its been incredible to see God forming friendships through this adoption. It has been a deep longing of my heart to make more friends, as most of my friends don't live near me. My social heart was aching for friends and boy does God provide! Not only did a friend set up a sewing night for our fundraiser (COMING SOON to FACEBOOK) but one of my other friends who is adopting came over to show me some paperwork and we ended up just sharing life for like 4 hours!! I cannot even imagine what this journey would look like without these people and so many more showing support for us.

TODAY we are launching a shirt campaign! Our minimum selling goal is 25 shirts (the number that has to be met before they will be printed) but in my heart I would love to see that number BLOWN out of the water. So we are having a competition! If you want to win, all you have to do is share our fundraiser with anybody and everyone you can think of and convince them to get shirts! When you get the shirts, take a group picture wearing the shirts. The person who organizes the biggest team picture will win a $ 50 Amazon gift card! Lets say you share with friends who are far away from you and they can't make it in the picture. If they take a selfie and hold a paper saying "Team (insert name) " they will be counted in the number of people in your group picture! Does that make sense?! I hope so!

Here is the link :) https://www.bonfirefunds.com/bring-henry-home

Happy New Year!!

As 2014 came to an end last night I actually wanted to stop time. I LOVED 2014...there were some huge moments some of them happy, some of them sad, but overall the year was pretty awesome! Our biggest blessing last year was of course our silly little man. I cannot even begin to express how grateful we are to have him! We could not have asked for a better little one. He is a constant source of joy and I often find myself looking at him and just being in awe of the fact I get to be his mommy. Even when he drives me nuts he still manages to make me laugh. I am excited to watch him grow and learn even more this year! As for the downs of this year I look back on them and some of them still break my heart but God is faithful and he manages to take bad moments and turn them into beauty, I choose to focus on the positive. I choose to see how out of each bad came a little more unity in our family and a new appreciation of what we have.

I would have liked to freeze time for nothing more than just to reflect a little longer and give a few more praises to God, for HE is SO GOOD!

As we inevitably hit midnight I got excited! Not because I made a million resolutions to help me make it through January as a "better person" but because I know that each year is a gift and this year is already promising to be very exciting! We officially committed to a new little boy and as I wired money to Eastern Europe a few days before Christmas we officially became what they call "paper pregnant" and I have to admit its almost as overwhelming as being actually pregnant. The number of forms to fill out and get notarized and the different steps to take seem to be daunting but we have an amazing facilitator as well as local friends going through the same thing to help us take deep breaths and put one foot in front of the other.

We also have this face :) to keeping us going! I cannot wait to snuggle him and make his sad eyes sparkle knowing he is loved beyond measure!

This is our little boy! He will be 3 this year!

I have once again heard that there are many questions about why we are doing this, and I will not be answering some of those mostly because I don't think I need to, but I will say this: we are not adopting because of an inability to have children. We are adopting because it is an awesome way to grow a family and something I have wanted to do forever. I know its not a "normal" choice but it is an exciting one! Also the other question that I will answer is why not from the US and the simple answer to that is because of the quality of life of these little ones doesn't even compare to the care children in the US receive.

We are trusting God on the path he has lead us down and invite you to join with us in prayer for our boy and other children just like him who need families. Please friends and family pray for this sweet face, this little boy who goes to bed ever night without a mommy and daddy to tuck him in and whisper how loved he is. Pray for us as we swim through this ocean of paperwork and long to hold our little boy.

Thank you for taking the time to read this! Happy New Year!

A little bit of good news...a whole bunch of heart ache

   My prayers were answered...we found out our application was accepted on my birthday! Sadly we also found out the little boy we hoped would be ours, who felt so much like ours is being adopted by another family. This was a massive blow, and so unexpected. I wept...and wept and then I rejoiced. I rejoiced knowing that this little boy whom I love is getting a family. It is more than bittersweet and for a moment or two...maybe even three I let it crush me. I let it steal my joy and my hope..but as I silently battled with God and I knew that feeling could not win. Milo ( the "name" of the little boy we thought would be ours) served an amazing purpose! He opened us up and kick started our adoption process! 

With all of that being said...WE ARE STILL ADOPTING! We are not letting this stop us from rescuing a child. God set us on this path and we are going to keep following him down it. It may hurt for a while I am sure we will not fully get over Milo for a very very long time but on his behalf we are going to find the child God has for our family. We are still hoping for a child who is hearing impaired because its something so close to our hearts and we also hope the child is close to Griffin's age. So for those of you who have given us money it is still going towards a ransom of a child we just don't just don't know which one at this very moment. We are working with our case worker to look at more files and will hopefully know our child's name and face soon. We are still fundraising because the process hasn't gotten any less expensive and we are also hoping it hasn't gotten any longer. :) We still have hope :) God is still good :) 

The loudest thing I heard from God today in our battle was this "I will not forsake you" I am clinging to that knowing that God has the best plan and it is even better than we could dream of. My friend Natalie spoke some serious truth over my life last night..."a step of faith isn't easy, if it were it wouldn't require faith." This road does not promise to be easy it never did, today was HARD and PAINFUL. But we are looking forward to tomorrow. Thank you all for your support. Please continue to pray for us. 

The waiting game...

  I must admit we haven't been in the process for nearly as long as some families I know but it feels like we have. I feel like the moment I set eyes on our little boy he had been ours for a long time, and all that stands in our way is a few technicalities that can and will take several months. 

For those of you who know me, probably know that patience is not a strong suit of mine. I am rather impatient. I have even avoided praying for patience at times knowing the only way to get them is to be tested and challenged and that idea freaked me out. BUT God is silly and here we are, in the process of something that has already caused us to grow in patience. Step #1 contact case worker...SURPRISE...she was on vacation for a WEEK. Step #2 get application and fill it out...DONE! Step #3 mail application...DONE (mail lady said should arrive on Monday or Tuesday)...Begin waiting....and waiting...and FRIDAY get a note from caseworker that application has arrived!! YAY! Now WAIT for approval which should come at the beginning of next week. PRAYERS PLEASE! 
For some this seems like its not that long just a week or two, but imagine you are a child and all you want is a family and a home, a week or two is a long time to be added.

I just spoke with our caseworker and we are one of, if not the youngest couple she has worked with. This could work against us so I invite you to join us in prayer about this. We feel that this is the path God is leading us down and are pursuing it with our whole hearts. Please pray that the agency and the country we are working with will not mind our age :)

There is really not a whole lot more to update at this point. NEXT week should be a big week for us. I am praying so hard that I have GOOD news to share on my birthday. I cannot wait to sign a few more papers and finally be able to reveal his sweet face to all of you, you will probably fall in love just like us (that's seriously how sweet it is) and then I will say TOO BAD he is ours :) 

In the meantime if you have any awesome fundraising ideas please feel free to pass them along to us, we are working on things and will not let a money stand in the way of redemption. 

Now I will leave you with a verse:

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Galatians 4:4-5 ESV

PS Sorry if this sounds a little all over, I had to empty my brain so I could focus on some other things.

Answering the why...

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about what people may have thought when we first shared our news.I am sure that there were probably many reactions and I am also sure one of those reactions was probably one of question the big "WHY?!" Why would a family who is able to have children adopt a child? Why would you want to do this?

My short answer is "why not?" why not provide a home for a child who so desperately longs for one? Why not bring a child who wants a family into a family like ours? Why not? That my friends is the short answer. 

The longer answer is this, I have dreamed for a very long time that adoption would be part of my family structure, this dream was born out of seeing children on the streets and in orphanages who only want to belong and to have someone love them. I have felt called and compelled to be a voice for those children and I wasn't really sure what that would look like or when that dream would happen until recently. 

The other part of the answer is because if my husband, Derek,  were born in the country our little boy is in he would most likely be in an orphanage himself. With his heart and hearing issues he would almost certainly be considered worthless and be left by his family and this makes me crazy!! My husband is amazing and anything but worthless and there are many children who just need to be told this as well, to be given a chance in this world. 

The little boy who we are pursuing is deaf and it is likely that this is the reason he is where he is and to me that is unacceptable, to me he should not be defined by his inabilities but his abilities. I cannot wait to show him how valued he really is.

We know that this will not be easy and we are so grateful for all the kind words that people have been sending us. We have the application in our possession and are quickly working to send that in this week so that we can be committed and share even more great news with you all. 

Please keep us in your prayers. 

The Journey Begins

For a majority of my life I have dreamed of adopting, this dream was put on hold quite some time, for many reasons. However, for the last couple of months God has been reawakening this desire within me, he has been putting people and things in my path that I could hardly ignore. Some of these things prompted more discussion with Derek, more feeling out his heart and respecting where he was at. 

Then it happened, God broke my heart as I looked into the eyes of a little boy, a little boy who needs a family, a little boy who we are going to pursue with our whole hearts and do everything we can do to make our own. THIS IS HAPPENING and God is in control. We have already seen God moving in this process and we are excited to see what else he will do. 

We know a couple things about this process: 1. God is going to have to move some serious mountains and we cannot wait to see him do it. 2. We are going to need the support of our amazing friends and family. 3. We are committed to do everything we can to make this happen. 

We cannot yet share many details about the boy we already love because we are waiting until we can be committed to him (his social worker is out of the office). SO please please pray that this process can officially begin soon. 

We are sharing this news right now because we are stepping out in faith that God will continue this process and also because we want to start fundraising right away. We are working towards a goal of $25K and yes we know that is a lot, but we also know that God can do BIG things! Ephesians 3:20!

We hope that you will take this journey with us and help bring out little man home. It wont be easy, but it will be worth it. This blog will be a way that we will keep you updated about where we are in the process as well as upcoming fundraisers so keep checking back :)