It has been three weeks since we announced to the world that we received our referral call. Since then we have experienced so much love, support and prayers that we are absolutely blown away. We have also have had people ask us question, so I thought that I would take a little time to answer some of the most popular questions. We are an open book and so very excited about our journey to bring Baby E home to her forever family, so feel free to ask us anything we are happy talk about our girl.
Here are some of the most common questions:
- How old is Baby E? As far as we know she is 5 months old, however we still do not have a lot of information on her. We do not know her exact DOB but hope to get a better idea once we get all of her medical information.
- What is her name? and are you going to change it? There are a lot of privacy rules with adoption, they rightfully want to protect the innocent so I am pretty sure I cannot give her birth name online until she is home. We have discussed changing her name, but we have not made a final decision. If we do change her name, we will definitely keep her Ethiopian name as her middle name.
- When do you pick her up? That is a tough one. Right now we are not sure, we are at the mercy of paperwork and the government. The best guess that I am getting from our agency is about 4-5 months from our official referral. Once the referral is accepted it takes about 6 weeks to get the PAIR application together. Once submitted it takes another 3 months (if everything goes smooth) to receive your PAIR letter approval, then the courts call and schedule your court date. We will then go to Ethiopia and officially adopt her in the eyes of the Ethiopian courts, however she will not have papers to leave the country. We will then return to the states where we will wait for an Embassy appointment to return back to Ethiopia to bring her home. It is a very long process, but we know the reward at the end of the journey will be worth every minute of it.
- Are you going to take Isabelle and Davie with you to Ethiopia? We are not sure how this will work out yet, we are kind of going with the flow. Isabelle really, really, really want to go with us and we would love to take her, however if she goes she will only go with us on the second trip. If money allows and it is safe we will likely take Isabelle on our second trip. We are still not certain if Davie would be able to sit through a flight that long, a one way trip is about 30 hours (with a layover in Germany).
- Where is she now? When we first received our call, Baby E was in a remote region of Ethiopia. She was moved a few weeks ago to Addis, which is the countries capital. Right now "E" is in an orphanage up the road from our agencies transition/foster home, the Thomas Center. Although she is in an orphanage she is checked on by the nannies at the Thomas Center and receives medical attention there. When the nannies check on her they will take pictures and send them to us for updates. I do not know many details about the orphanage because I am trying to think happy thoughts about it, the less I know the better, otherwise I will think the worst and there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. All I can do is pray that the sweet nannies are watching over our little girl and taking care of her. One of the many reasons we choose Ethiopia was because of how well they care for one another, so I am absolutely certain she is getting the best care. (right?) When we travel the first time to Ethiopia we will visit the orphanage and meet the nannies that cared for her there, then she will be moved to the Thomas Center where she will be cared for during the transition time between our first and second visit.
Right now our focus has been on getting all of our paperwork and funds together. I submitted paperwork for our authentication seals on the last couple pieces of our dossier paperwork a few weeks ago and then our dossier is complete! I hope to get the paperwork back very soon, and then we can finally send off all of our paperwork to the US and Ethiopian governments. This in itself is a huge accomplishment, there is so much paperwork to be done!
As far as the funds for the adoption are concerned, all I can say is GOD IS GOOD! When we got the referral call a few weeks ago I was in an all out momentary panic wondering how in the world would be come up with over $13,000 in the few weeks we needed to come up with the money. From the very beginning of this journey I felt the Holy Spirit calming me and telling me not to worry about the money. As easy as it is to say, it was so hard to believe but I prayed, gave it to God and honestly felt at peace that the money would come. I am so blown away at how God has worked over the past couple of weeks, he has worked in me, he has worked in others and he has made the unthinkable a reality. In the past three weeks we have come up with $11,686.72! That only leaves us with $1,953.88. We had an action that raised $2,169, with our savings and so many generous people donating to our Lifesong account we have less than $2,000 to go. That is unbelievable, incredible and only possible with God.
We still have the remaining balance and of course the cost of travel to Ethiopia two times, but I know that God is on our side and he can move mountains. He has shown me this time and time again, all I have to do is lay my worries at His feet and trust that His will be done. It has been on my heart for a few weeks to encourage people to not let adoption be about the money. With the journey that we have been on so many people have said to me, "we would love to adopt, we just don't have the money." My prayer is that people throw the money aspect of adoption out the window and trust in God. If it is His will, it will be done. I know that is hard to believe but it is so true.. I promise! There are people out there that want to help, all you have to do is ask for it. There are people that don't feel led to adopt, don't feel like it is right for their family, but they want to help and they will. We have had a hand full of people who we don't even know donate to our adoption. It's not because we asked them, but because someone shared our story and the Holy Spirit put it on their hearts to help. It's a God thing and He is bigger than any worry you have. Please do not let money be a factor in your choice to adopt, if you feel led to it go with your heart, and tell your head to stay out of it.
I am sorry this turned into a rant and a long post! Yikes! Last thing, I want to thank every single one of you who has donated to our Lifesong account, donated an item to our auction, bid on an auction item, bought a t-shirt, prayed for us, asked us about our adoption, shared our story or even thought about our family along our journey. We feel so very loved and supported, and at a time like this who could ask for anything more!
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
An Exciting Announcement
I am constantly amazed at how God works in our lives, and He once again has not let me down. After preparing ourselves, Isabelle and Davie for what we thought would be a 1 year wait for a referral, we received a call 9 months early! I can hardly believe that it is true, but Baby E is out there, and let me tell you she is absolutely gorgeous. I am probably a little bias, but trust me so very cute.
Thursday evening we were about to head out of the house when I got a phone call, it was our case worker, Alicia. The first thing that she said was, "Happy Mother's Day Erica". It didn't dawn on me what she was getting at, so I told her Mother's Day was a few months ago, to which she replied, "not for you". I immediately left the room and called Dave into our bedroom because it occurred to me that she was calling about our baby-to-be. We eagerly listened to all of the details that Alicia had to offer, which wasn't much. She emailed us a few photos that she had of "E" as well as a tiny bit of medical information. Here is one of the photos we received, we have blocked out her face due to privacy reasons, we are not permitted to post her photo until she is officially a member of the Wink Family.
At this point the agency doesn't have enough information to send an official referral because they need to transfer the baby to the Thomas Center. The Thomas Center is our agencies transition home, and she needs to be seen my a doctor in Addis. Even though it is not an official referral she is definitely ours. Once CHI receives the medical information they will pass it along to us with the formal referral and we go from there. We hope to have this information by next week at the latest. According to Alicia it will take about 5 months before we can make our first of two trips to Ethiopia to finish the adoption process. I cannot begin to tell you how excited we all are, and how thankful that we are to have moved so quickly. We have met so many parents who have been on list for years and we are in awe of the fact that we only had to wait a few short months.
While we are so excited about getting to the top of the list sooner than we anticipated we are also face a big challenge, money! After accepting the referral our agency requires we pay our next fee to Ethiopia within two weeks, that fee is $11,000. We have been saving, given the time frame was cut by 9 months we have not had enough time to save anywhere close to that amount. So that leaves us in a mad dash to start raising funds.
Many people have asked how they can help, and we can honestly use all of the help we can get. I want to assure you that Dave and I do not like asking for help, we don't like to burden people and we don't like to ask for money, however this is something we feel God is calling us to do. Here are a few ways that you can help:
1) Please pray for us, for all of the orphans in Ethiopia and all around the world. Please pray that Baby E's medical comes back and that everything is ok with our sweet girl. Please pray that her travels to the Thomas Center are safe and uneventful. We ask that you pray for God to prepare Isabelle and Davie for the upcoming changes in our family. Please pray for Baby E's birth parents, whatever their circumstances maybe. Lastly we ask that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise all of our children to know Jesus.
2) Will you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help cover the remaining adoption expenses to bring our little girl home? We have currently paid over $10,000 in expenses, but the entire process will end up costing around $35,000 with travel expenses, adoption fees, etc. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation please send a check to Lifesong for Orphans at P.O. Box 40 Gridley, IL 61744. Please write "4579/Wink"in the memo line and this will ensure the funds go to the correct account. 100% of the donation will be sent to our adoption agency to go to our adoption fees. You can also donate on Paypal by visiting www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate , select "Give to an Adoptive Family". Complete the online form with "4579" as the account number, the family name is "Wink".
3) We are also starting an Adoption Auction Fundraiser on Facebook. We are asking for donations from friends, relatives and anyone else that feels called to donate to provide items to be placed on auction. A few example items are gift cards, products, crafts you have made or services. We will be accepting items through July 31st. Please email me if you have any questions, or to be added an item to our donation list at erica.wink@gmail.com. All items will be up for auction beginning Friday, August 1st at noon. When bidding on an item please put your bidding price in the comments below the item. The auction will close Sunday, August 3rd at 10:00pm, the highest bidder is the winner. I will contact all winners by Monday afternoon at the latest. For more information on the auction please visit: https://www.facebook.com/babyefundraiser
4) Lastly, one of the best things that you can do for us is share, share, share. The more people we reach the more help we can get, and every little bit counts.
We have created a puzzle (see post below) where we are writing all of the donors names on the back of a puzzle piece. As the donations come in we put the puzzle together, once the puzzle is complete we will hang it in Baby E's room and tell her all about people who helped bring her home to us, and show her how many people loved her before they ever knew her.
We are so excited to be on such an amazing journey, we are excited to bring new life into our family, excited to be doing God's work and so thankful for all of the support that we have already received. We truly have some amazing friends, family and supporters. Thank you for all you do.
Thursday evening we were about to head out of the house when I got a phone call, it was our case worker, Alicia. The first thing that she said was, "Happy Mother's Day Erica". It didn't dawn on me what she was getting at, so I told her Mother's Day was a few months ago, to which she replied, "not for you". I immediately left the room and called Dave into our bedroom because it occurred to me that she was calling about our baby-to-be. We eagerly listened to all of the details that Alicia had to offer, which wasn't much. She emailed us a few photos that she had of "E" as well as a tiny bit of medical information. Here is one of the photos we received, we have blocked out her face due to privacy reasons, we are not permitted to post her photo until she is officially a member of the Wink Family.
Our very first picture of our little girl
At this point the agency doesn't have enough information to send an official referral because they need to transfer the baby to the Thomas Center. The Thomas Center is our agencies transition home, and she needs to be seen my a doctor in Addis. Even though it is not an official referral she is definitely ours. Once CHI receives the medical information they will pass it along to us with the formal referral and we go from there. We hope to have this information by next week at the latest. According to Alicia it will take about 5 months before we can make our first of two trips to Ethiopia to finish the adoption process. I cannot begin to tell you how excited we all are, and how thankful that we are to have moved so quickly. We have met so many parents who have been on list for years and we are in awe of the fact that we only had to wait a few short months.
While we are so excited about getting to the top of the list sooner than we anticipated we are also face a big challenge, money! After accepting the referral our agency requires we pay our next fee to Ethiopia within two weeks, that fee is $11,000. We have been saving, given the time frame was cut by 9 months we have not had enough time to save anywhere close to that amount. So that leaves us in a mad dash to start raising funds.
Many people have asked how they can help, and we can honestly use all of the help we can get. I want to assure you that Dave and I do not like asking for help, we don't like to burden people and we don't like to ask for money, however this is something we feel God is calling us to do. Here are a few ways that you can help:
1) Please pray for us, for all of the orphans in Ethiopia and all around the world. Please pray that Baby E's medical comes back and that everything is ok with our sweet girl. Please pray that her travels to the Thomas Center are safe and uneventful. We ask that you pray for God to prepare Isabelle and Davie for the upcoming changes in our family. Please pray for Baby E's birth parents, whatever their circumstances maybe. Lastly we ask that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise all of our children to know Jesus.
2) Will you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help cover the remaining adoption expenses to bring our little girl home? We have currently paid over $10,000 in expenses, but the entire process will end up costing around $35,000 with travel expenses, adoption fees, etc. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation please send a check to Lifesong for Orphans at P.O. Box 40 Gridley, IL 61744. Please write "4579/Wink"in the memo line and this will ensure the funds go to the correct account. 100% of the donation will be sent to our adoption agency to go to our adoption fees. You can also donate on Paypal by visiting www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate , select "Give to an Adoptive Family". Complete the online form with "4579" as the account number, the family name is "Wink".
3) We are also starting an Adoption Auction Fundraiser on Facebook. We are asking for donations from friends, relatives and anyone else that feels called to donate to provide items to be placed on auction. A few example items are gift cards, products, crafts you have made or services. We will be accepting items through July 31st. Please email me if you have any questions, or to be added an item to our donation list at erica.wink@gmail.com. All items will be up for auction beginning Friday, August 1st at noon. When bidding on an item please put your bidding price in the comments below the item. The auction will close Sunday, August 3rd at 10:00pm, the highest bidder is the winner. I will contact all winners by Monday afternoon at the latest. For more information on the auction please visit: https://www.facebook.com/babyefundraiser
4) Lastly, one of the best things that you can do for us is share, share, share. The more people we reach the more help we can get, and every little bit counts.
We have created a puzzle (see post below) where we are writing all of the donors names on the back of a puzzle piece. As the donations come in we put the puzzle together, once the puzzle is complete we will hang it in Baby E's room and tell her all about people who helped bring her home to us, and show her how many people loved her before they ever knew her.
We are so excited to be on such an amazing journey, we are excited to bring new life into our family, excited to be doing God's work and so thankful for all of the support that we have already received. We truly have some amazing friends, family and supporters. Thank you for all you do.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
As an added bonus, I ordered two of the puzzles... This mean we will use one of the pieces to put the puzzle together, and give you the same piece of the second puzzle with a magnet attached. You can hang the piece on your refrigerator as a constant reminder to keep us in your prayers along our journey, and as a thank you for all of your love and support.
We already have a couple of donations, I am so very thankful. Dave and I have been so nervous about asking for help, but I truly do feel the love and support from everyone that we talk to. We love all of our friends and family so very much, and we could not do this without you. I know that when God lead us to adopt that He would see us through all of the obstacles and so far that has been true. God is good all the time!
If you are interested in donating, here is the information for our Lifesong for Orphans account:
Please make checks payable to “Lifesong for Orphans”. In the memo, note “4579/Wink” to ensure funds go to the correct account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744. Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all U.S. administrative and fund-raising costs . That means 100% of your donation will go directly to our adoption.
If you are interested in donating, here is the information for our Lifesong for Orphans account:
Please make checks payable to “Lifesong for Orphans”. In the memo, note “4579/Wink” to ensure funds go to the correct account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744. Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all U.S. administrative and fund-raising costs . That means 100% of your donation will go directly to our adoption.
Another option is to give online. Go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate. Select “Give to an Adoptive Family.” Complete the online form and our account number is “4579” and the family name is “Wink”. Please note that PayPal will charge an administrative fee for credit card processing (2.9% + $0.30 USD per transaction). Your donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee.
Individual donations of $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts for donations under $250 will gladly be sent upon request. Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Lifesong for Orphans Fundraiser
Dear Family and Friends,
As you may already know Dave and I have felt the call to adopt a child into our family. The Holy Spirit has been working on our hearts for a few years now; finally in November 2013 we decided to answer the call and follow our hearts. We began the adoption process. We have an agency, we completed our home study, and now we are waiting to be matched with a specific child. Once we receive our referral, we will we travel to Ethiopia to meet our child and finalize the adoption. We will then come home and anxiously wait for all the paperwork to be completed in Ethiopia before we make the final trip to bring her home. Until then, we will continue to pray for the missing piece to our family.
Why adopt? Our primary reason is that we feel so clearly directed by God and the Holy Spirit to adopt. We want to give a child a family that she probably wouldn’t otherwise have, and our family has so much love to offer. God desires for orphans of all nations to be loved, cared for, and adopted into Christian families. Mark 9:37 says, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes not only me but also my Father who sent me.”
Why Ethiopia? There are an estimated 5 million orphans in Ethiopia, a country that is twice the size of Texas. 1 in 10 children die before their first birthday, half of the children in Ethiopia never attend school and 88% of children never attend secondary school. 60% of children are stunted because of malnutrition, and half of all of the child deaths are associated to malnutrition. These are just a few of the reasons that we choose Ethiopia, but again the primary reason is that this is where we feel God is calling us to adopt, and He is an all-knowing, loving God.
The biggest challenge is not opening our hearts and our home to another child, but it is finding the finances to make this happen. The estimated cost for the adoption is $35,000. That’s certainly money that we don’t have, but we know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. From the very beginning we have had a strong belief that if God sees us to it, He will see us through it. Just imagine how many people would adopt if money was not an obstacle, we don’t want finances to be our only obstacle keeping us from saving a child and offering her a better life. By God’s grace we’ve been able to pay a little over $10,000 to get the process moving.
Honestly it’s a little difficult (because of our pride) to make our needs known to the body of Christ but we realize we are biblically told to do so. We have applied through Lifesong for Orphans for a fundraising account, an organization that seeks to help orphans through adoption, and caring and fundraising to provide for them. Lifesong has setup an account for us, an account where are friends and family can donate toward our adoption and the donation is tax-deductible. Lifesong suggests that we send letter to our friends and family because many people want to help but don’t know how. We value your love and friendship, and we would like you to pray and consider helping us in one or two ways with our adoption.
- Please pray God would tenderly care for all of the orphans in Ethiopia and all around the world. Please pray that God chooses the perfect child for our family, and that he makes His choice clear to us; and that through prayers and guidance of the Holy Spirit we feel confident about our decision toward the child that is placed before us. We ask for your prayers that God would prepare Isabelle and Davie for the upcoming changes in our family. Please pray for our child’s birth parents and lastly, we ask for prayers that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise this child to know Jesus.
- Will you consider making a tax-deductible donation to help cover the remaining $25,000 in adoption expenses to bring our little girl home? Our goal date is August 19th, but funds will be accepted towards our adoption until the child is in our home and/or our adoption is complete.
Please make checks payable to “Lifesong for Orphans”. In the memo, note “4579/Wink” to ensure funds go to the correct account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744. Lifesong has been blessed with a partner that underwrites all U.S. administrative and fund-raising costs . That means 100% of your donation will go directly to our adoption.
Another option is to give online. Go to www.lifesongfororphans.org/give/donate. Select “Give to an Adoptive Family.” Complete the online form and our account number is “4579” and the family name is “Wink”. Please note that PayPal will charge an administrative fee for credit card processing (2.9% + $0.30 USD per transaction). Your donation will be decreased by the amount of this fee.
Individual donations of $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts for donations under $250 will gladly be sent upon request. Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization.
Every person that donates to our adoption becomes a part of our story, a piece of our puzzle. To symbolize the support, we have a jigsaw puzzle that we will assemble during the process. Every piece of this puzzle will symbolize someone who is helping bring our little girl home. When a donation is made, the donors name will be written on the back of a piece of the puzzle. After the puzzle is completed, we will frame the puzzle and hang it in our child’s room. Each of you will be part of bringing home the missing piece to our puzzle! I can imagine telling her one day when we read off the names that, ”these people loved you before they ever knew you!” This will be a wonderful keepsake for her to have, where she can see all of the people who helped bring Baby E (that is what we call our baby-to-be, the “E” is for Ethiopia) home.
Thank you for investing in our family and in God’s Kingdom through your prayers and finances- it will be an investment with an eternal return! We’ll give you updates with details and pictures as we receive them. We have also created a blog where you can follow our journey winksethiopianwish.blogspot.com . I do my best to keep it updated as much as possible. Please pray that through this entire process that we will glorify God and fulfill His purpose.
Love,
Dave, Erica, Isabelle and Davie
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
We finally received our completed home study, this in itself was a huge weight off my shoulders. The document gathering, the background checks, interviews, proper wording of the home study, etc. All of it EXHAUSTING. However, it does show a level of commitment, and I am incredibly grateful that all of these measures are put into place for good reason :)
When we finally received our final home study I called the agency to see what the next step was and when exactly we get on the list, to my surprise our agency worker had added us a few weeks ago. The moment we have been waiting for, it has taken 6 months but we are finally on the list. Not only are we on the list but we are #12! Wow, we are going to meet our little lady before we know it. God is so good!
This month we also had our t-shirt fundraise and it went better than I could have ever expected. We sold 74 shirts. I am so happy, please and blessed to know that there are so many people out there that love and support us and more importantly our adoption journey. To my amazement, some of the people that ordered shirts are people we don't even know. How amazing is that? People we don't even know are rooting for us and little Baby E, I am in awe of people's generosity.
Right now we have submitted our paper work to Homeland Security and are waiting to get our biometric fingerprint appointment setup by them. I have also submitted for a grant through Lifesong for Orphans and I hope and pray that we are able to get approved for the grant. It was so stressful filling out all of their questions, financial information, testimonies, etc. but it really boils down to God being in control. If we are meant to be approved we will and if we aren't then we will figure something out. Either way God is in control and His will, will be done. During this adoption process so far that is one thing that I have had to learn, along with patience and putting my trust in God.
Monday, March 24, 2014
A House Built On His Word
We have absolutely ZERO new adoption news and it is making me so sad :( The only missing piece to our home study is Dave's New Jersey background check. Apparently, the social workers agency gave us the wrong form. When NJ went to process the check they instead mailed it back and we had to resubmit. We mailed the correct form back 11 days ago (who's counting, right?), it says to wait 45 days so we will impatiently wait because what else can we do?
I was talking to Isabelle last night about how when Mommy and Daddy got engaged 10 years ago, that Daddy moved out of his house and into his parents house, and Mommy moved into Daddy's house. For religious reasons we did not want to live together before marriage, but wanted to save money for the wedding instead of paying for a mortgage and my rent. It was a long 6 months or so, we would hang out at "our" house and then Dave would leave every night and sleep at his parents. It seemed like forever! The funny part about it now is that I barely remember it being a big deal now. In the moment time seems to creep by so incredibly slowly, I missed Dave and I wanted to be home with me so badly. Today it is a distant memory. I have a feeling that this is how the adoption process is going to be as well. Right now in the moment it is taking forever and it is completely out of my control, but a few years from now I will be swinging my little girl on a swing, or rocking her to sleep and all this waiting and longing for her to be home with us will be a distant memory. 10 years from now, we will barely remember the wait.
For now, we have so much going on in our lives. We sold our house a year ago and have been renting while we built our new home, we hope that it will be our forever home. When we sold our house and started building one we never dreamed that at the same time we would answer a call to adopt, we knew we would one day adopt but never imagined that we would make all of these huge changes within a year. We signed the contracts on our new home in September and it wasn't until this month that they started pouring foundation and began construction. One of the things that we wanted to do in our new home was write scripture on the frame of the house. We want our home to go up with Christ as it's foundation, we want our home built on God's word so I have been carefully thinking about for months what scriptures would be best suited for each room.
We finally have a framed house with a roof, plumbing, electricity and air ducting so this weekend we were able to go in and put our scripture on the walls.
I was talking to Isabelle last night about how when Mommy and Daddy got engaged 10 years ago, that Daddy moved out of his house and into his parents house, and Mommy moved into Daddy's house. For religious reasons we did not want to live together before marriage, but wanted to save money for the wedding instead of paying for a mortgage and my rent. It was a long 6 months or so, we would hang out at "our" house and then Dave would leave every night and sleep at his parents. It seemed like forever! The funny part about it now is that I barely remember it being a big deal now. In the moment time seems to creep by so incredibly slowly, I missed Dave and I wanted to be home with me so badly. Today it is a distant memory. I have a feeling that this is how the adoption process is going to be as well. Right now in the moment it is taking forever and it is completely out of my control, but a few years from now I will be swinging my little girl on a swing, or rocking her to sleep and all this waiting and longing for her to be home with us will be a distant memory. 10 years from now, we will barely remember the wait.
For now, we have so much going on in our lives. We sold our house a year ago and have been renting while we built our new home, we hope that it will be our forever home. When we sold our house and started building one we never dreamed that at the same time we would answer a call to adopt, we knew we would one day adopt but never imagined that we would make all of these huge changes within a year. We signed the contracts on our new home in September and it wasn't until this month that they started pouring foundation and began construction. One of the things that we wanted to do in our new home was write scripture on the frame of the house. We want our home to go up with Christ as it's foundation, we want our home built on God's word so I have been carefully thinking about for months what scriptures would be best suited for each room.
We finally have a framed house with a roof, plumbing, electricity and air ducting so this weekend we were able to go in and put our scripture on the walls.
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| The front entry to the house- Joshua 24:15 |
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| This verse was one of the easiest rooms to do for me, this is Davie's room. Dave and I struggled for two years to get pregnant with this sweet, amazing little boy. I have prayed for him more than I have prayed for anything in my whole entire life. I have to say he was worth the wait :) - 1 Samuel 1:27 |
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| For my sweet baby girls room I picked, 1 Peter 3:3, I want her to know growing up that it is not about what you wear, what you have, what you look like, it is all about your spirit and who are you on the inside. The type of person you become matters to God (and Mommy and Daddy) more than anything else. |
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| Because we do not have enough going on .. LOL Dave and I have decided to start homeschooling the kids. This verse is written on the walls of the family room and soon to be school room. Deuteronomy 6:5-9. Teaching the kids to love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength seems like one of the most valuable lessons they will ever get. |
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| Hebrews 13:2- Dining Room, I wonder how many angels we will entertain here? Fascinating to even think about. |
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| Yay, Baby E's room! How could we go wrong with John 14:18, we are coming to get you baby girl (hurry up NJ). |
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| John 6:35 for the kitchen |
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| One of my absolute most favorite verses, Matthew 6:21! This verse is in the middle of the house above our mantle. My treasure is in my family, my home and our soon to be little girl. |
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| Proverbs 2:3- Lord please help me to remember this on a daily basis. I have to live by it now as hard as it is at times, my house is built on it. :) Trusting the Lord with all your heart, so hard to do but when you do it, the peace is priceless and comforting. |
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| The garage, Psalms 91:11- Lord watch us on our travels as we leave this place. Be with each and everyone of us wherever we go, send your angels to protect us.
Stay tuned for more house and adoption news. Hoping that soon my next post will be about a completed home study, fingers crossed.
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Tuesday, January 28, 2014
What is going on?
I have had a bunch of people lately ask me "what is going on with the adoption thing", so I thought I would give an update.
So where we are now is what is known as the "paper chase", when you hear people refer to it as that they are not lying! It is kind of like when you just have a baby and people say, "they are going to be big before you know it" and you are secretly thinking that they are over exaggerating in your head. Then about two days later you are taking that same baby to kindergarten and you realize what everyone was telling you is true. It is EXACTLY like that! I never in a million years though that there would be so many things that I have to gather. I am however very grateful that you have to go through a lot to adopt a child, because trust me this is a level of commitment when you start this process you are going to find out who is in it to win and who the quitters are.
We finally finished all of our home study visits, which were so great, and now we are just waiting to get the completed study to go into our dossier. I have a feeling that it is going to be a couple of weeks before the report will be completed because we are still waiting on a couple different state background checks to come in, then hopefully the social worker will have all she needs. You have to have a background check from every state that you have lived in since you were 18 years old and we have a handful between the two of us (I am going to mainly blame this on Dave, because that usually works best). Once we get the home study back we file for an I-600 which will allow us to bring the child we adopt back into the U.S. Then hopefully our dossier will be completed and we can officially be added to the wait list! Yay, I cannot wait for the day that we will be actually added to a list. According to the agency the wait is one year from when you turn in your dossier. That will be a happy day and a huge milestone for us! Getting on the list is my goal right now, it is all I can think about. In the mean time every day we get mail is a little like Christmas, I feel like the little old lady that looks forward to the mail man coming every day because it is the highlight of her day. I cannot wait for the mail to get here so I can see if any of the missing pieces of our dossier are in there. Each piece of paper brings us one step closer.
In the meantime Dave and I have found a couple of facebook sites to become members of that provide us with a little more information to keep us going. I cannot tell you how heart breaking and out of my "bubble" I feel to see some of these kids. I constantly find myself crying and praying for them and at times it consumes all of thoughts. One of the pages is one from our agency of children that are on the waiting list, meaning that they are older children (10yrs and older) or have medical issues. Not all of these children are from Ethiopia but to see all of these sweet babies out there that don't have families breaks my heart. Not only do they not have families but most of them are so sick. There was a 4 year old the other day that weights 22lbs., blind children, deaf children, lots with hydrocephalus, spina bifida, fetal alcohol syndrome, etc. These children need homes more than anyone, someone to hold them, love them, take them to the doctor, and nurse them back to the best health that they can be in. It is one thing to know that these issues exist and another to actually see them in pictures. It is just crushing and makes me want to hold Isabelle and Davie a little tighter and thank God for all that he has given me.
It is almost time for me to pickup my little man, and I could go on and on about how much I have learned in the last couple of months but I need to save some of that for another post.
I do however want all of you people to know that I am in no way patient, I mean seriously not over exaggerating it just is what it is. A lack of patience is definitely one of my strongest weaknesses. This process is so slow and you constantly feel like you are out of control (because you are). I have to depend on so many different people to do their part, fill out their letter, give me my background checks, etc. and that is so hard for me! This is a feeling that I am slowly but surely learning to accept and work through, and I know that this entire process will be a learning experience that will help me grow as a mother, wife and as a person. God just grant me patience and help me to realize that it will all come to fruition in good timing, your timing!
So where we are now is what is known as the "paper chase", when you hear people refer to it as that they are not lying! It is kind of like when you just have a baby and people say, "they are going to be big before you know it" and you are secretly thinking that they are over exaggerating in your head. Then about two days later you are taking that same baby to kindergarten and you realize what everyone was telling you is true. It is EXACTLY like that! I never in a million years though that there would be so many things that I have to gather. I am however very grateful that you have to go through a lot to adopt a child, because trust me this is a level of commitment when you start this process you are going to find out who is in it to win and who the quitters are.
We finally finished all of our home study visits, which were so great, and now we are just waiting to get the completed study to go into our dossier. I have a feeling that it is going to be a couple of weeks before the report will be completed because we are still waiting on a couple different state background checks to come in, then hopefully the social worker will have all she needs. You have to have a background check from every state that you have lived in since you were 18 years old and we have a handful between the two of us (I am going to mainly blame this on Dave, because that usually works best). Once we get the home study back we file for an I-600 which will allow us to bring the child we adopt back into the U.S. Then hopefully our dossier will be completed and we can officially be added to the wait list! Yay, I cannot wait for the day that we will be actually added to a list. According to the agency the wait is one year from when you turn in your dossier. That will be a happy day and a huge milestone for us! Getting on the list is my goal right now, it is all I can think about. In the mean time every day we get mail is a little like Christmas, I feel like the little old lady that looks forward to the mail man coming every day because it is the highlight of her day. I cannot wait for the mail to get here so I can see if any of the missing pieces of our dossier are in there. Each piece of paper brings us one step closer.
In the meantime Dave and I have found a couple of facebook sites to become members of that provide us with a little more information to keep us going. I cannot tell you how heart breaking and out of my "bubble" I feel to see some of these kids. I constantly find myself crying and praying for them and at times it consumes all of thoughts. One of the pages is one from our agency of children that are on the waiting list, meaning that they are older children (10yrs and older) or have medical issues. Not all of these children are from Ethiopia but to see all of these sweet babies out there that don't have families breaks my heart. Not only do they not have families but most of them are so sick. There was a 4 year old the other day that weights 22lbs., blind children, deaf children, lots with hydrocephalus, spina bifida, fetal alcohol syndrome, etc. These children need homes more than anyone, someone to hold them, love them, take them to the doctor, and nurse them back to the best health that they can be in. It is one thing to know that these issues exist and another to actually see them in pictures. It is just crushing and makes me want to hold Isabelle and Davie a little tighter and thank God for all that he has given me.
It is almost time for me to pickup my little man, and I could go on and on about how much I have learned in the last couple of months but I need to save some of that for another post.
I do however want all of you people to know that I am in no way patient, I mean seriously not over exaggerating it just is what it is. A lack of patience is definitely one of my strongest weaknesses. This process is so slow and you constantly feel like you are out of control (because you are). I have to depend on so many different people to do their part, fill out their letter, give me my background checks, etc. and that is so hard for me! This is a feeling that I am slowly but surely learning to accept and work through, and I know that this entire process will be a learning experience that will help me grow as a mother, wife and as a person. God just grant me patience and help me to realize that it will all come to fruition in good timing, your timing!
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