Life is to be lived!

Team 127 Both Hands Project

2011-10-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

Since I shared in May about the upcoming Both Hands Project , I felt I should give you an update...

Over the summer the Core Sunday School class at our church along with many other volunteers blessed 2 widows and one single mom with house repairs and sprucing up their yards. Many people and businesses donated supplies and we spent time together working on these homes! And the money raised for these projects goes toward our adoption along with 3 other adoptive couples!

I have attached the video of the projects that took place this summer! It has been a humbling experience having people we didn't know very well want to support and help us with our adoption! We have been so blessed to be involved in these projects! Once again I am amazed at how God loves us! We cannot thank this group of college and career folks at our church enough for the love of Christ they have shown us! They have given us a great example of living out James 1:27!

I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself. Psalm 89 1-2

Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness

Psalm 115:1

One year ago ...

2011-09-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

Our paperwork arrived in Rwanda a year ago this weekend!

Much has happened in the past year, we continue to live our lives, yet the wait continues to feel long. We received our approval at the end of June from the Rwanda government. While it was reason to celebrate, it was also bittersweet. A few things have changed in the adoption process from Rwanda. Most of the children from the orphanage have been placed in families. So happy for them! Because of this the government has decided to give us and most of the waiting families a regret letter. This letter states that if we do not get a referral within 6 months of our approval our file will be closed for good! So for us that means if we do not get a referral by Dec 28, 2011 our file will be closed! What a roller coaster ride! We are trusting and hoping in God to provide a referral before the end of the year! We covet your prayers as we wait and see how He will provide!

So while we wait I am comforted by these words:

Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised. ~Job 1:21

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my right hand.... For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you. Do not fear; I will help you. ~ Isaiah 41: 10, 13

I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into springs. ~ Isaiah 41: 18

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 wlak and not be faint.

~Isaiah 40:31

You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God I will give you thanks forever. ~ Psalm 30:11

While this may be a roller coaster ride I will choose to trust in the One who is unchanging! Only He can bring us the children he has placed on our hearts!

surprised...

2011-05-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of this process someone shared with me, "you will be surprised at how God will provide the money for your adoption and from whom it will come!" Wow, were they right!

These past few months we have been overwhelmed with God's ways of providing for our adoption!

First a sweet family in our church had a yard sale a few weeks ago. They decided to give the proceeds from their sale to us and 2 other adoptive families from our church! How generous and thoughtful!

Then The Core Sunday School class at our church decided they wanted to do a service project to support adoptive families in our church. We and 3 other families will be the recipients of their support. They will be doing Lifesong for Orphans Both Hands Project.

Both Hands is a way to care for the Orphan by raising funds for an adoptive family, but the twist on it and why it is called Both Hands is because rather than by doing a fundraiser like a bake sale or running a race and supporting someone, the activity that is performed whereby people raise funds is working on the home of a widow. Therefore in doing this fundraiser there is both care for the orphan and for the widow in keeping with James 1:27 which says that pure religion is this: to care for the orphan and the widow in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world. So people volunteer to work on a widows house and at the same time they solicit funds for their efforts and those funds are directed to adoptive families to help provide funding for their adoption.

The Core will be fundraising for us and we will all work together on a widows house. In all they are helping 2 widows and 6 orphans!

We are so surprised and overwhelmed by all the ways God is providing for us! Ways we never would have guessed! When we heard of all of these things I was brought to tears by how much He cares for us and will provide for us!

waiting...with thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

Well I figure I should write something since its been about 2 months since our paperwork arrived in Rwanda!Things have come to a much slower pace in our process now as we wait for approval. And Im ok with some down time after all that craziness in September!

In the mean time there has been some movement in Rwanda. We have heard there have been some approvals which is great news! There haven't been any approvals since January. Also we have been given a number. We are # 148 in line! And our friends the Altlands are # 149! We have heard there are 150 total dossiers waiting in line, so we are at the end of the line! But so thankful we are in line and our paperwork is there!

Some things we have done while waiting:

In October we took part in the walk 4 water sponsered by 4-more. In one day they were able to raise over $20,000 to provide clean water for orphan villages in Rwanda! Praise God!

At the end of October I was able to be a part of a Rwanda Mama dinner. In His amazing way God has provided a small community of Rwanda adoptive families in our area! There are 7 families right in our community! So 6 of the moms plus one visiting from Georgia met for dinner at Macaroni Grill! What a great night it was to hear each other's stories and become acquainted. I have a feeling we will be getting to know each other fairly well over the years to come!

local Rwanda Mamas plus one from Georgia!

At the end of October we also helped out with a yard sale to benefit the Rwanda Project. This is a team of mulitmedia volunteers who are in Rwanda right now visiting and blessing the orphans and poor of Rwanda. They are also hoping to see how water for life and 4-more are positively affecting the orphans there! Check out their website to see what is going on right now while they are in Rwanda! therwandaproject.blogspot.com

Well, that's it for now. I should be getting back to preparing for my thanksgiving meal tomorrow! I cannot believe this is my 12th year of hosting our families! Take time this thanksgiving to thank God for the tremendous blessings he has given us! Whether its food, clothing, housing, work, children, family, and even clean water, we have much more than many in the world do. We have been blessed beyond measure!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations. ~ Psalm 100:4-5

Dossier in Rwanda

2010-09-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

Great news!

We received word that our dossier arrived in Rwanda and was delivered to the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF) on Friday Sept 17th! What a relief! We are now officially in line to get our heart-born children! Now all we can do is wait! Wait on God! I think I will like this stage, nothing more I can do but trust in Him!

This is a major milestone that I didnt think would come! I am once again reminded and humbled at all God has done over this past year! Not only did he turn our hearts toward adoption in this past year, but he orchestrated the last few wonderfully, crazy, exciting weeks in order to get us to this point! I am again in awe!

Now we wait and see what happens next. I have no idea how long the wait will be. But I do know one thing, its in His hands and in His Perfect Timing!

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!

~Psalm 118:24

Dossier on the way to Rwanda!

2010-09-10T07:47:00.000-07:00

After compiling our dossier, we drove over to the Altland's home to drop it off, since we are mailing them together. We decided to take pictures of each of the familes with their dossier, since it was such a big moment! I felt like I was giving away my baby!

Corey, Abigail and Sue

Mason, Nathan and Keri

Abigail wanted to take a picture of all the grown ups,

so here is Corey, Sue, Keri and Nathan!

and last but not least Abigail and Mason holding the dossiers!

So then this morning, Nate took both of the dossiers with him to work where he fed-exed them together to Rwanda. It will most likely take up to 6 days till they arrive in Rwanda! I'm sure I will write a post when they arrive!

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. ~ Psalm 33:20-21

finished compiling dossier!

2010-09-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

Well, this week we spent most of our time making copies and compiling the rest of the paperwork needed for our dossier. Ive included a picture of all of the paperwork on the kitchen table. Then after that we needed to put everything in order and in page protectors, and put it all in 2 notebooks. The original notebook goes to the Rwandan Government and the copy goes to our attorney. We will be mailing it all out today! I can hardly wait!

Dossier Completed at Rwandan Embassy!!!

2010-09-02T08:09:00.001-07:00

I can hardly believe it! Our dossier has been stamped and finished at the Rwandan Embassy! We handed it in Monday and it was done by Wednesday! God has moved mountains for us this past week! I never would have guessed we could get so much accomplished in less than a week! It had been taking the Embassy 2 weeks to a month to return your paperwork. Not only did they get ours done so fast, but they finished all of the dossiers yesterday that had been submitted this week!

We are going to have a courier pick it up and fed-ex it to us and should receive it Friday or Saturday!

Next thing we do in the process is add our letter of intent to Rwanda, pictures, and letters of reference to our paperwork. These things did not need to be authenticated. Then we make copies of every piece of paperwork for our attorney and for our records. And finally we put it all in a notebook and fed-ex it to Rwanda! Still hard to believe this is happening so fast. I really didnt think we would be mailing it to Rwanda till October!

LORD, Im amazed by you and how you love me!

" Ah Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you." ~ Jeremiah 32:17

Another Great Adventure!

2010-08-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

What can I say? Another amazing 24 hours given to us by God! I can hardly believe the blessings he has given us in the past few days!

Last night we and the Altlands drove down to Northern Virginia and and stayed over night with our friends the Phos! They were wonderful hosts at the last minute even while they are in the midst of moving! Thanks Nat and Hung!

We awoke at 5am this morning to make our trek to the US State Dept! We first went to the wrong place but found our way to the authentications office by 7:30am. There were already many families and couriers there by then and we all took a number. Just a bit after 7:30am one of the workers came out and announced that they would only authenticate 15 documents per customer. I was very nervous since we had 16 to authenticate. I felt a little sick so I went outside for air while Corey and the Altlands waited for our numbers to be called. Meanwhile Corey's number was called and he told the lady we had an extra paper and asked what options we had, and she took the extra document and authenticated all of them! Praise God! I was so worried this would be a hold up for us! This was all done by 9am!

So after the Altlands and we had all of our paperwork authenticated at the State Dept we took a walk to the Rwandan Embassy. We did get a little lost on the way, but God provided an "angel" who asked us where we were headed, pointed out the right direction and gave us a DC map! It almost made me cry!

We were concerned that the Rwandan Embassy was going to be very crowded since we knew many people were trying to turn in their paperwork before Tues. We walked in and there were only 3 other families there. They had all flown in from Texas to try and get their paperwork in in time. It was great to meet these other families and hear their stories!

The people who worked at the Rwandan Embassy were very kind and comforting. They said as long as we handed in our paperwork today or tomorrow we would have it handed in in time! So the Altlands and we handed all our paperwork in! And its all done now, all we can do is wait till they get it all stamped and we will travel back down to pick it up. They said it will most likely be later this week!

I can still hardly believe all that has transpired over the last few days! It makes my head spin! What an adventure God has taken us on! We will have to wait on Him and see what happens next!

Thank you once again to all of you who have been praying for us!

Here's a verse Keri shared with us this morning on the drive into DC:

"Humble yourselves therefore under God's almighty hand that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" ~ 1 Peter 5: 6-7

AMAZING DAY!

2010-08-27T18:10:00.000-07:00

Well for those of you who don't know, while we were on vacation this past week we received word that Rwanda is closing its doors to international adoption as of August 31. Rwanda would like to become a member of the Hague convention and improve its process of adoption. So until further notice they are putting a hold on new adoption applicants.

Since our application had not yet gone to the embassy we figured there is nothing we can do but pray and wait on the LORD!

But today on our drive home from the beach I received a call from my friend Keri telling me that she found out we have a window of opportunity to hand in our paperwork. We didn't think there was a chance we could get it in by Tuesday because of various pieces needing to fall into place and the fact that we were only driving home from vacation today.

Well, God had other plans in mind. As we drove home we made many calls to see if we could possibly get our paperwork notarized at our home and then authenticated by Pennsylvania in Harrisburg today! First we called my wonderful friend Janeice who had previously offered to do our notarizing and asked if she could possibly do the notarizing today and not just today but in time for us to get to Harrisburg before closing time at 4pm. She was willing and ready! Then our awesome Uncle Pete made a call for us at the State asking them to stay open long enough for us to get our paperwork authenticated. They were willing to stay open to 4:30 just for us!

Then Nate had to come home from work early and we had to find Pop-Pop since he had to sign a notarized paper as well. My amazing mom went to Park City (our local mall) to find Pop-Pop to get him home in time.

We arrived home from the beach around 2:30pm, my mom and Pop-Pop arrived, then Nate and Keri pulled in, and Janeice arrived shortly after! We got the notarizing done by 3:30 for Corey and Nate to take the paperwork to Harrisburg to get it authenticated! Not only did Kim ( the State worker) stay late for us, but helped with directions on the phone and where to park! She and her fellow workers went above and beyond what we expected! We got there at 4:15 and were done by 4:40.

All in all, what wonderful support we had today from so many wonderful people! I know so many of you out there were praying for us over the last few days! We appreciate every single prayer! It is amazing to see how God worked today! And this truly could not have come together any other way!

Next Nate, Keri, Corey and I will be going down to Washington DC on Sunday eve to stay with my dear friend Natalie. The US State Dept is open from 7-11am, so we want to be there bright and early Monday to get our authentications done. Then once we are done there we will walk to the Rwandan Embassy to hand in our paperwork for them to stamp as well. We are just hoping to get it there by Monday so they can stamp Monday's date on it. Then it will be there for a while. There are many other people that are doing this exact same thing, so it will be quite busy. And we are all trying to get it in by Tuesday.

We covet your prayers on our behalf as we make this journey on Monday and hope that we will get it done in time! We are not sure what the outcome will be but are trusting God no matter what the outcome!

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. "

~ Philippians 4: 6-7

Received I-171H form today!

2010-08-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Wow! it finally arrived today! the coveted I 171H form from homeland security!

This is becoming more real now! The US has given us approval to adopt 2 children from Rwanda!!! Now we are really headed down the final stretch! We just have to get our dossier physicals, dossier papers notarized and authenticated at the State, Federal level and Rwanda Embassy! I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

his faithfulness continues through all generations.

~Psalm 100:4-5

Big Day!

2010-07-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

Well today was a big day for two reasons...

1st - our daughter Abigail turned 11! Wow now I'm feeling old! We spent the day celebrating at Hershey Park! What a fun day!

2nd - our I-600a and homestudy report have been sent to USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services) today. Now we have some more waiting to do. We should receive word when it arrives and then get an appointment for fingerprints. After that we await the coveted I-171H (the US giving us the ok to adopt internationally). Could take 30-90 days. Hoping for the shortest time possible!

Looking forward to how this will all unfold!

I lift up my eyes to the hills- where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

~Psalm 121:1-2

awaiting homestudy final draft...

2010-06-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well, this week Corey and I finished the last phase of the homestudy process by having our physicals. Now all we can do is wait till our homestudy report is finished and we get our final draft. Hopefully it will be done soon! Then we get to send our homestudy to US immigration! Im finding myself tired of waiting and its not even the "REAL" waiting phase of the adoption process! That is going to be harder than anticipated!

As I think ahead about a year of waiting I have decided to learn a few new things while I have a window of opportunity! I have always wanted to learn to can, make jam, sew, and decorate cakes, so Im planning on learning these things over the next year. A few people have already volunteered to teach me some of these things! I will also be getting our spare room ready for children. So hopefully with all this I will not be too focused on waiting!

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

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: 28-31

The Process

2010-05-17T09:31:00.000-07:00

So many people have asked what is next in our process, so I thought I'd write an overview on the whole adoption process to answer your questions...

Right now we are in the part of the process where we are collecting paper work for our home study and have our home study visit this week, May 20th.

The Paper Chase...

First we compile paperwork for a home study by a local agency. We have a home study visit by a social worker and she compiles a written report for our dossier. (a dossier is all the paper work that will be compiled and sent to Rwanda) After the home study report is done we submit that along with the I-600a form (which is an application to US immigration to adopt an orphan from another country) to US Immigration. Once they receive our paperwork we are given dates to get fingerprints from USCIS. When this is all complete we receive the I-171H form (US approval to adopt).

Next we compile more documents for our dossier. Our dossier will include a letter requesting to adopt, passport copies, birth certificates, marriage license, background checks, home study report, proof of income, Hague papers, family composition, mom and dad agreement to adopt letter, medical reports, guardian consent letter, pictures of home and family, I-171H, power of attorney letter, recommendation letters, no objection letter from Rwandan Embassy. Whew, that's a lot of paper work!

Once we have all these forms for our dossier we start the authentication process. First we must get them notarized. After that we have to go to the Secretary of State's office in our state to get authenticated. Then we go to Washington DC and get our dossier papers authenticated at the Department of State. The Dept of State only authenticates 6 documents a day now, so we will have to go there 3 days in a row to get it all authenticated. After that we go to the Rwandan Embassy. The Embassy will take our documents and authenticate them, it will most likely take around 2 wks. They will authenticate them and give us a "no objection letter" which we then include in our dossier. Once that authentication is done we go back to DC and pick up our authenticated dossier papers. Now our dossier will be complete and we will Fed Ex it to Rwanda.

The Wait...

Once the dossier arrives in Rwanda, we will wait to hear for approval. Right now this is taking about 9 months , but is subject to change. Once the decision is made we will receive an email notification telliing us if we have been approved. If request is approved, our file will be forwarded to the Orpanage. Once there the nuns will pray to determine which children will join our family. This is my favorite part of the process, that they pray to match the children for us! What an amazing God we have! I love that the nuns pray to match the children with families! We are then informed of the match and given an official referral. The referral process is currently taking about 2-3 months. We will then have a court date where our adoption will become complete and legal. Once the adoption is legal we can make our travel plans to go get our children!!! There is more paperwork that has to happen there, like getting passports and visas. I'm not sure of that part of the process yet, but its all worth it to get these children that God has laid on our hearts! I am longing to hold them!

I hope that explains it all a bit better. Looking forward to how God is going to work through it all!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever!

~Psalm 107:1

Our story...

2010-04-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

Corey and I have been married almost 12 years. We have always wanted a large family. We were blessed with our daughter Abigail after our first year of marriage. But after that we struggled with infertility for the next 10 years. My friend Keri started an infertility group this past year and it helped me come to a new place in my journey. We started praying this past summer if we should consider adoption.

In the fall of '09 God turned our hearts toward adoption. We didn't know anything about adoption, whether we wanted to do domestic or international, etc. So I started meeting with some other women in our church who had been through the adoption journey. I wanted to know their stories and how God led them down this path. God used Keri again to introduce us to Rwanda adoption. She shared what had been on her heart for the past year about Rwanda and I could not stop thinking about it. I told Corey about it and he was excited about the prospect of adopting from Rwanda. So we began to do research and pray about Rwanda adoption. We trusted that God was leading all through this process.

Meanwhile during this researching phase I reconnected with a friend from our TnT singles group that I had lost touch with. Here I found out she and her husband were in the process of adopting from... Rwanda. So I met with her in December to hear more of her story. And shortly after that found out her sister is also adopting from Rwanda. Wow! If we adopt from Rwanda, we will have a community right here in our little town!

We requested an application from an agency and started filling it out. In February we went to the Adopting for Life Conference in Louisville, Ky with 2 other couples we know. Wow, that was a real encouragement for us and for our friends. We heard many great speakers and got to hear many people share their adoption journeys. It made us ready to finish our application when we got home and send it in. Also during this time our friend Keri and her husband Nate also decided to adopt from Rwanda. And they are going through the process with us at the same time! What a blessing from God I did not expect!

Shortly after we sent in our application we found out that we should do an independent adoption, without an agency. We found out Rwanda prefers to work directly with families and independent adoptions. So now we have decided to go down that path.

We have just started the paper chase part of the adoption this past week! Very exciting. We are hoping for a boy and girl ( infant and toddler). I can hardly wait to hold these babies that God has laid on our hearts!

In his infinite wisdom God allowed me to go through the struggle of infertility so we would consider his plan of adoption for our lives. If things had gone according to my plans Im sure I would not have even considered adoption. Always glad He is the One in control!