Lately, I have been trying to be more intentional when I pray. I don't want unprayed prayers to be the reason for a hold up in our adoption. I want to to live completely by this verse... "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done" -Philippians 4:6. As a woman, my brain is wired to be constantly thinking. I always have something on my mind and often times have a hard time falling asleep at night because my mind just wont quiet down. (Ladies, you know what I'm talking about!) I've resolved to turn my thoughts into a constant streaming prayer. It's been a work in progress but I think it has helped me to be less worrisome.
Today my 3 prayers for my personal benefit were this..
1. Lord, please let us receive an update from our agency
2. Lord, let there be something good in our mailbox
3. Lord, send someone to buy our truck
I prayed these over and over again beginning the moment I woke up and let me just tell you God heard my little prayers. :) Our biometric fingerprint appointment came in the mail today from immigration! This is the only thing between us and our immigration approval. (YAY). Then not 10 minutes after I checked the mail my phone rang...it was Lifeline! Our coordinator was calling to give me an update...yay God! She told me that our $3400 payment was processed and we are officially on the Congo wait list!!!! (BIG YAY) I am so over joyed to finally be at this stage in the process. We are so close to seeing the precious faces of the children God has planned for us. Oh my word, I can not even express my sheer excitement right now. :)
So what does this mean now? Our coordinator told me there are 8 other families on the list waiting to be matched, so technically we are #9. That does not mean that we will have to wait for all 8 families to be matched before we get our referral. We are basically all in a big pot and once our Congo facilitator has children that fall within each families specifications they are matched. Some people on the list are wanting infants and some are hoping to adopt older kids. Some want boys and some girls, some families one child others are waiting for 2 or more. There are differences within each family. We are hoping that we will have our referral within 2-3 months, but we all know that could change drastically. I'm just so excited to finally be on the list!
And no, the 3rd prayer has not been answered yet. That doesn't mean it wont happen though, right?! I mean it's only 3:30pm. ;) Either way today has been wonderful. Thank you Lord for answering my prayers, even though they may seem so insignificant to others, you care for the slightest concerns of my heart. You are amazing and unchanging!
January 31, 2012
January 19, 2012
Sacrifice
Sacrifice (noun) : To give up something you love for something you love more.
This adoption has brought with it lots of sacrifices. We have been stretched and refined on what things are important to us in life and we’ve come to the raw conclusion that we have to make major sacrifices in order to complete this journey God has laid upon our hearts.
Ways which we have sacrificed:
1. I no longer get my nails done & go quite a few months in between hair cuts. This may not seem like a huge sacrifice, but for anyone who knows me knows I’ve had my nails done and hair highlighted on a regular basis since I was 12! Now I’ve opted for no nails and no coloring of my hair, just a trim here and there. (Sorry if I look a bit atrocious)
2. Trey cuts his own hair! :) And still manages to look overly handsome.
3. We eat out (a lot) less. And if we do eat out it is super cheap and normally with a gift card or coupon.
4. We drive less to save money on gas.
5. Our closets are not filled with the latest trends. Honestly the majority of our clothes are way past their prime.
6. The furbabies of the family are eating cheaper food (sorry guys) and their grooming appointments have been pretty much nonexistent. We no longer have poodles, but just mounds of fluff. ;)
7. Our home is normally quite cool, due to us trying to save our electric bill.
8. Christmas was very slim and we haven’t bought gifts for each others birthdays or anniversaries. (Don’t freak…yes, Kipton will get a few gifts for his birthday)
9. We have sold every valuable and invaluable possession we owned.
10. We are currently selling our 2nd vehicle.
This adoption has brought with it lots of sacrifices. We have been stretched and refined on what things are important to us in life and we’ve come to the raw conclusion that we have to make major sacrifices in order to complete this journey God has laid upon our hearts.
Ways which we have sacrificed:
1. I no longer get my nails done & go quite a few months in between hair cuts. This may not seem like a huge sacrifice, but for anyone who knows me knows I’ve had my nails done and hair highlighted on a regular basis since I was 12! Now I’ve opted for no nails and no coloring of my hair, just a trim here and there. (Sorry if I look a bit atrocious)
2. Trey cuts his own hair! :) And still manages to look overly handsome.
3. We eat out (a lot) less. And if we do eat out it is super cheap and normally with a gift card or coupon.
4. We drive less to save money on gas.
5. Our closets are not filled with the latest trends. Honestly the majority of our clothes are way past their prime.
6. The furbabies of the family are eating cheaper food (sorry guys) and their grooming appointments have been pretty much nonexistent. We no longer have poodles, but just mounds of fluff. ;)
7. Our home is normally quite cool, due to us trying to save our electric bill.
8. Christmas was very slim and we haven’t bought gifts for each others birthdays or anniversaries. (Don’t freak…yes, Kipton will get a few gifts for his birthday)
9. We have sold every valuable and invaluable possession we owned.
10. We are currently selling our 2nd vehicle.
When we talk about sacrifice with other Americans, they are baffled as to why we would give up some of our luxuries just to help that one (or two) orphan(s) in Africa. They just can't fathom.
This is my response to that....
We are sacrificing our dining out and grocery budget, but we are not sacrificing food for an entire day just so our children can have one hot meal.
We will sacrifice our health and beauty routines, but there are families losing their children and children loosing parents because they don't have access adequate health care.
We are sacrificing our home temperature a few degrees and our 2nd car, but we are not sacrificing the hours it takes to walk to the nearest village with safe drinking water.
We are sacrificing our trendy clothing when there are people in Congo who are living daily without any clothes at all.
Our sacrifices may seem extreme to some Americans, but to us we would gladly sacrifice it all for the children of Congo.
If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.
Matthew 10:39
January 06, 2012
Ready to be Waiting
I am not very good at waiting. I've realized this and prepared myself that waiting for our referrals would be hard and then once we get our referrals waiting to unite our family was going to be harder. I was prepared to be waiting.
Waiting was the exact spot I thought we were in. We have our completed home study, I've renewed my passport, we're diligently completing our education, 2 agency fees have been paid and we filed for approval with immigration. Everything on my list was checked off. I was just waiting to hear that our paperwork was sent to DRC over the Christmas holiday. Finally we'd be done with the initial process and waiting to see pictures of our babe with big brown eyes and smooth mocha skin.
I was ready to wait.
Unfortunately, it seems as though the waiting won't happen as quick as I'd assumed. There seems to be a little (or not so little) fee I overlooked when I planned out our fundraising tactics. We now are required to pay a fee for our lawyer in Congo before we can officially make the waitlist. The fee covers his time and expertise in finding children who would be a good fit in our family. Once we are matched this fee enables him to start the paperwork process and request court dates, medical exams, etc. The fee($3400) is definitely necessary, just a little unplanned for.
While celebrating on New Years, I was sure this would be the year our family would grow. Kade being home in 2012 was looking like a definite possibility. Now with this little speed bump I'm not so sure. Would you please consider donating to our adoption so that we will officially be waiting for Kade?? The quicker we get the fee paid the better chance we have of making 2012 our adoption year!
Ways to help raise $3400 quickly...
1) Donate (even if it's just $5)
2) Share our blog on your FB, twitter, email and other social networking sites
3) Pray, pray, pray!
I still dream of us traveling to Congo before the year is up. Help us make it a reality!
Waiting was the exact spot I thought we were in. We have our completed home study, I've renewed my passport, we're diligently completing our education, 2 agency fees have been paid and we filed for approval with immigration. Everything on my list was checked off. I was just waiting to hear that our paperwork was sent to DRC over the Christmas holiday. Finally we'd be done with the initial process and waiting to see pictures of our babe with big brown eyes and smooth mocha skin.
I was ready to wait.
Unfortunately, it seems as though the waiting won't happen as quick as I'd assumed. There seems to be a little (or not so little) fee I overlooked when I planned out our fundraising tactics. We now are required to pay a fee for our lawyer in Congo before we can officially make the waitlist. The fee covers his time and expertise in finding children who would be a good fit in our family. Once we are matched this fee enables him to start the paperwork process and request court dates, medical exams, etc. The fee($3400) is definitely necessary, just a little unplanned for.
While celebrating on New Years, I was sure this would be the year our family would grow. Kade being home in 2012 was looking like a definite possibility. Now with this little speed bump I'm not so sure. Would you please consider donating to our adoption so that we will officially be waiting for Kade?? The quicker we get the fee paid the better chance we have of making 2012 our adoption year!
Ways to help raise $3400 quickly...
1) Donate (even if it's just $5)
2) Share our blog on your FB, twitter, email and other social networking sites
3) Pray, pray, pray!
I still dream of us traveling to Congo before the year is up. Help us make it a reality!
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