Answered Prayer and a Prayer Request

Just an update and prayer request... we started the process to update our Home Study and fingerprints (they told us it would take 6-8 weeks) an then upon further discussions with our lawyer we found out the day after we paid for and sent them in that we were going to go ahead and move ahead and not update since it was so close to a year and we need to get him home asap. SO God answered the prayer even though it cost us some money and it's all good, no waiting. So we are praying that {Lord willing} in 8 weeks we will be going to UG rather than waiting for paperwork to come in. We are praying for a September court date. Now we are working super hard to finish getting our Dossier together to send to UG next week and we need to send about $7,250.00 for our next costs. SO we are about $2000.00 short. SO please pray it will all come together : )

Just a little picture of some of the first things we have gotten for our little guy!

A Year {and an Update}

It's hard to believe it's been a year since I wrote THIS post. A year since God moved in our hearts and we announced our hopes to adopt from Uganda. A year of paper work, fundraising, prayers and waiting. We have definitely gained patience. It's hard waiting and it's hard not being in control {or not having the illusion of it}. I admit, I had high hopes that things would go more quickly than it has but I see Gods hand through it all so far and trust His timing.


 I have learned a lot, and can I just tell you that so far God has steamrolled over every "limit" we have tried to set on this thing. We started about a year and a half ago getting ready to re-start the process of U.S infant adoption. We were open to other races but most types of special needs were definitely off the table. International adoption was way too scary but instead of admitting that, we chocked it up to it just not being for us. The adoption agency told us they wouldn't place a child older than our youngest so we felt a little forced..... Fast forward a few months and God put SixtyFeet in our line of sight and our world was turned upside down. We saw the need and fell in love with the country despite the fact we had never been there. We wanted to bring home a child who truly needed a home and who would otherwise not be adopted. We envisioned 1 or 2 little toddler aged children possibly with some sort of health concerns. In September we had the amazing opportunity to go to Uganda with SixtyFeet to serve and learn more about the beautiful country. While we were there God once again wrecked our hearts for those children who desperately needed a loving family but what we soon discovered was that the majority of those truly waiting were older children and children with various types of Special Needs. I see now how vital going and visiting can be before making a commitment to adopt. For us it allowed for these beautiful children to become more than just an age or a list of "special needs" on a bio. We met children who just longed for love, for security, and hope. 

Josh and I in Uganda, Lake Victoria in the background aka paradise.

I haven't written an update in awhile mostly because we are stuck in the waiting game. We finally received our USCIS approval but are now in the process of updating our Home Study to increase the age parameters and re-word our openness to all special needs. We will then need to re-send our Home Study to USCIS and wait for our clearances to be updated. I cant say much since we are still waiting to be "officially matched" and approved from the home we hope to work with but since September we have been praying for a certain little guy we met with a smile that would melt your heart. If it's God's will we hope to be privileged to be his forever family but like I said we are in waiting. 


I just laugh when I look at how far God has brought us in a year. It's been amazing to watch the process unfold.  He has provided every step with the funds we have needed so far and we trust He will continue to provide. 


Here at home I feel like I am in some sort of crazy nesting phase where I have so many projects going it's hard to keep them all straight. I swear it's like the final months of pregnancy but boy it's nice doing stuff without a big ol' belly!

Adoption Update and Fundraiser! {Necklaces and sling bags}

On our trip we knew we wanted to serve, learn about the culture, and we hoped to build relationships that would lead us to our child(ren) in the future. We were able to do this and I know the Lord has a plan for us and I know that it will all work out in His perfect timing.  

So what now? We are now in the process of getting internationally certified to adopt {so far we have gotten domestically certified}. This involves a lot of paper work and approximately $900.00. 

My little girl loves necklaces
{camera flash not so much}

So that's where you can help! We are selling beautiful handmade Magazine Bead Necklaces. These are beautiful, unique, and very versatile. I love to wear them long, double loop them, or wrap them as a bracelet. These particular necklaces were made with love by the young girls at M2, one of the Remand Homes we were blessed to serve at while on our trip with Sixty Feet. Each one is uniquely different and I have tons of styles to choose from. *These would make wonderful gifts too! hint, hint

Necklaces HERE {this links to my Facebook album}

{$20.00 unless otherwise stated plus $3.00 shipping, you can pay by making a donation above left thru Paypal and leave a comment of what number necklace you want.}

I also have 2 sling bags left for sale for $25.00 plus $5.00 shipping

We Are Finally Here!

After 26 hours of travel we have arrived! It's hard to believe we are actually here and laying in a bed covered with a mosquito net and listening to the sounds of a generator hum.

Let's just be honest, it was a long couple of days! Flying this long and the 10 hour time difference from Phoenix is crazy! The flights went great and there was pretty good food on the planes. We are thankul to have not had any baggage lost and everything went smoothly.

It's kind of unreal to be here with people I have never met in real life but through the world of blogs ad Facebook I feel like I already know. The teams really meshing well together and I cant wait to serve this week with them.

We landed here and had a wonderful welcome party, including the famous Ernest and Catherine and Boaz, the SixtyFeet new interns Kelsey and Kirby, and wonderful Moses. Tomorrow we visit "M 1" the biggest of the remand centers SixtyFeet works with.

Having a hard time load pictures on blogger but you can view my Facebook album here.

Beyond Words

This morning we found out that an Anonymous Donor has stepped up and is paying for one of our trips to Uganda. All I can say is Praise God. We feel totally overwhelmed with Gods provision through others. 


The night before I was literally sitting on the couch "crunching" the numbers and talking with Josh about how much we had, how much we needed, and what we could do to fill that gap. That evening I had written an e-mail to my friend Shelly from SixtyFeet who is helping to coordinate the trip in Sept to ask advice on booking the tickets from Phoenix to Atlanta. She wrote me back a couple of ideas and asked if I had gotten word about someone paying for one of our trips.... umm no, she must be talking about someone else.... I went and looked back at the invoice we received for my portion of the plane tickets and it said $0...  WOW... 

³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, 

and all these things will be given to you as well. 

Matthew 6:33

Adoption Update

I haven't posted about our adoption in a while....

Here's an update of what we have done so far...

1. We sent in our fingerprint cards and CPS Clearance form to the state at the end of April. 
2. We completed our home study meetings at the end of April.
3. We applied for our passports in the beginning of May. 

Here's where we are at as of today....

1. We are still waiting on our clearances from the state, apparently, the court sends them in batches and ours was part of a large batch, sent out on May 6, so it’s taking longer to come in. 
2. Our social worker is almost finished writing our Home Study and will be ready to send in when the above clearances comes through.
3. We got our passports!!!

We are waiting and it feels like things are going S L O W ... but that's OK because God is in control of this crazy ride and His timing is best... We are praying that our clearances come in soon and that there are no problems that may hold them up... like the chick at the finger print place saying my fingerprints are "worn down" and I may have to do it again! Well I don't know how that is possible but praying they will go through fine anyways.

We do have an exciting announcement (that some may already know)....

 *God willing* both Josh and I are going to Uganda in September!  (WOW,That's like 3 months away!)

We are going on SixtyFeet's first ever Mission Trip! We are so excited to go and serve! We desire for God to use us in the name of the gospel and to be poured into by others we will meet who love Jesus. During this trip we want to love and minister to the children that SixtyFeet serves in the multiple remand homes (best described as prisons) throughout the country. We want to learn more about and experience the beautiful country that our future children are from and hope to build relationships that God may use to bring us to them in the future.   

God has provided through friends, family, strangers, and even my husband wrecking his car a couple months ago.... what could have been seen as a total set back in our finances proved to be a blessing. We received a settlement and instead of purchasing a replacement car at this time we are making due with having one car and using those funds to help pay for a portion of our trip. 

   

So... We are still working on trusting on the Lord and His provision. He has provided for us each step so far and we know He will continue. I have plans to open an Etsy store soon with items for sale to help us with our adoption expenses. I am hoping for any crafty friends and family to come along side and help make items to sell... wink, wink...

Also, I hope to type up our adoption costs so far and post it here in hopes it may help others who feel God's tugging to adopt get an idea of what to expect.