Progress… At Last!

This last weekend was fun and fantastic… we finally finished all the details for the home study paperwork and mailed it off! Hurrah!

While it was fun and fantastic, it was also incredibly stressful. Reading the fine print revealed several more tasks that we had to do to finish… (What?!? Personal checks not allowed? Who uses money orders now days anyway? Why isn’t this all electronic?) We transferred money from our GoFundMe account to our checking account and were hit by the slight administrative fee… and found when you are fundraising for each penny, even slight fees make you go “Ouch!” We love the convenience and ease that people have when using GoFundMe to give, but a small portion of each gift is taken out by the website. If you want all the money to go to us and can write a check, please send it to our church’s adoption ministry (and then it is tax deductable too!) or directly to us. Here are the details if you want to know more.

Another “Hallelujah” moment: our doctor finally filled out our medical forms! After three months of waiting and gently reminding him, we now have written proof that we are healthy enough to adopt! We are glad that our adoption agency suggested that we do our medical appointments as soon as possible – apparently this sort of delay is quite common. But now we have them and can do a happy dance. I wonder if happy dances burn more calories than other dances… we need to stay healthy and fit, after all.

And another “Praise God!” – We have enough funds to pay the first payment to the agency to start the processes of creating our dossier for Bulgaria! We are sending the check and signed contract off this week.

After months of slow and steady effort and no tangible results, it seems like this weekend was full of fireworks.

Now everyone is asking, “So what next? Do you get your kid now?”

Sigh. No for a while yet.

First is the home study, which we now can schedule. It consists of four visits with a social worker. Once they stamp us “Approved”, we then go on to obtain permission from the Federal government to bring in an orphan from Bulgaria… more paperwork and a little more money to get their stamp of approval. Then we will have the second payment to the agency and more paperwork for our dossier. Then more stamping of “Approve”, and after more payments to Bulgaria, then, maybe, it will be the long awaited referral time! Or we may just choose a kid off the waiting list and then it is the same process, only done double time!

Keep us in your prayers… we are experiencing God’s victory each and every day of this long road. Keep our little kiddo in your prayers too! We are blessed to be surrounded by such dear friends as you – thank you!

P.S. We can’t wait for you to meet our kid… he/she is going to have many awesome aunties and uncles!

Coffee Anyone?

Ian and I owe a lot to coffee… not only does it keep us awake as we pound away on our keyboards at work, but for many years it provided vital income and health insurance when Ian worked at Starbucks during his college years.

I always joked around with my friends… their caramel macchiato additions were filling up my dream oven fund. Well, it did pay for groceries and car payments and etc.

And now it is playing a vital part in our life again!

Dear friends – we know how important coffee is to you! We would never even think of asking you give up your beloved cup to support our adoption.  Never!

However, now you can sip your morning pick-me-up with the intense satisfaction of knowing that you have helped an orphan in need!

We stumbled across an organization that helps families adopt by fundraising through their online coffee shop. The owners of this website – Just Love Coffee Roasters – have adopted themselves (from Ethiopia!) and know the difficulties of coming up with a ransom for their child. Some of the profit is given to us out of each purchase, while another part of the profit goes to orphan care and other related causes.

So if you love coffee or love orphans or love us (or any combination of those), check out our “store front” – simply clink https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/ElliottAdoption/ and then the “Shop & Support” button. A variety of coffees is available, as well as some cute items like coffee scoops and mugs. So, please, let your coffee addition fill up our adoption fund!

The amounts that we will see for our adoption out of each purchase are not a lot, but every little bit gets us closer!

Here is the breakdown Just Love Coffee Roasters provides:

13oz. Coffees (non-small lot): $5
(4) 6oz. Samplers: $7
Coffee Cupper's Sampler: $19
Ultimate Sampler (Santa's Helper): $19
Jamaica Blue Mountain (small lot): 4oz. ($3)  13oz. ($9)
5oz. Tin Colombian Cup of Excellence Lot #1: $5
6oz. Kenya AA (small lot): $3
T-Shirts: $5
Sale T-Shirts: $3
Sale Hoodie: $4
Beanie: $3
Hat: $3
Travel Mug: $3
Stoneware Mug: $1
Aeropress: $5
Coffee Scoop: $1

Thank you for your support… it means the world to us and even more to the little child we will one day soon welcome into our family.

God bless… and happy sipping!

Sweet Little Faces

This weekend was hectic and frustrating to me… the stresses of everyday life crowded in and we forgot to actually go and have the paperwork notarized.  I have been so used to waiting for it to be done that I somehow continued on in the “there is nothing I can do now” mode and by the time I remembered, the notary was closed. Now we have to wait for the next time we are both free and the notary is open… which will probably be weeks. Erg! How could I forget? I feel like I’ve failed my child and he or she will have to live a couple more weeks without knowing that he or she is no longer alone. I beat myself up quite a bit. But God is the lifter of my head… and the lifter of my child’s head too. God’s more powerful than my mistakes and He will work this out for good – even if I cannot see it yet.

So this week, I am leaning heavily on God’s grace and trying to move forward. I’m doing some little things like calling people, like our doctor and my employer, who need to send us forms that they promised to fill out. And I’m taking pictures of our apartment building and a few other things that are required for the home study.

Sometimes, when I am discouraged, I look at faces of orphans in Bulgaria – on blogs, waiting child listings, YouTube. Perhaps I will see my child and recognize them instantly. Perhaps not, but I love to look at the children anyway… waiting for love, with their sweet faces and sad eyes. I fondly dream of tossling hair and tickling little feet and know that all of this work will be worth it in the end.

Here is a video that shows some of those faces:

P.S. The showing of this video does not endorse the organization that made it… I know nothing of them – neither good nor evil. I am just sharing the faces of the dear little ones.

Home Study Paperwork Finished!

I was in disbelief when Ian told me... I paused, trying to figure out what he was saying but it barely registered. What?!? The last form filled out, the last paragraph of the essay written?!? It wasn't until I got off the phone did the full implications of what he had just told me hit me. We are done with the initial paperwork for our home study!! I would have done a dance of joy if I hadn't been driving!







(Note to self - keep a small packet of confetti in the car for next time the need to celebrate arises. Is it littering to throw confetti out the window?)



Hurrah!

So... now what? Well, we get the paperwork notarized and copied and mailed off Saturday (we just don't have any time during business hours to do this during the week). We write some big and little checks for all the fees, all of which God has provided for through dear friends and other means.

Then we schedule our home study interviews and the scrutiny begins! We get questioned, poked and prodded. They make sure we have our emergency plan on display and that we have a fire extinguisher and carbon monoxide detector (thank you Susan!). Room for kid - check. No vicious dogs - check. Adoptive parents not crazy - check. Emergency food supplies - check.

(Second note to self - buy some Ramen noodles for the closet.) (Third note to self - Try not to eat Ramen noodles in the closet. For emergency use only... and craving for salty yummy food doesn't count as an emergency.)

Mmmm... noodles.  Ever try them dry? Better than potato chips!

Back to the home study... we also get educated! We will watch various lectures and read books on how to be good adoptive parents and what to expect from children who have been institutionalized their entire lives. Very exciting, we are looking forward to this immensely. While we know that this education won't give us the full picture of parenting an orphan, it will give us a starting place in what will be a life-long process.

And yes, more paperwork will need to be filled out.

We need your prayers!

• Pray that everything would go smoothly with no obstacles.
• Pray that we would be able to schedule the interviews within a reasonable timeframe - we're hoping to be done with them before fall.
• Pray that our doctor would actually fill out the paperwork declaring us of good health. We had our physicals done months ago and he still has not got around to it, in spite of my weekly calls. Grrrr.
• Pray that we get a social worker that is able to understand our heart and purpose for this adoption.
• Pray for anything that God leads you to pray for... He knows better than we do what needs to happen!

Your prayers really do make a difference, so please send them up to our all-powerful, wonderful Abba God!

How else can you help? As soon as the home study is finished, we will need more funds to move forward with preparing the dossier for Bulgaria and for immigration fees associated with the Federal process for bringing an adopted orphan into the US. We will be applying to as many grants as possible as soon as we get the home study approval, but most of them are designed to contribute toward the final costs of adoption after the parents have done everything they can to come up with the money through their own resources and fundraising. So... we need you! The sooner we get the funds, the sooner we can move on to the next step in bringing our little child into our home. So give if you can... and keep an eye out for some special fundraising we will be doing soon.

Thank you all for supporting us through this first stage... and into the next stages as well. We are infinitely blessed by your constant love and encouragement. We love you guys!