Our latest decision....

As many of you know, the door to adopt from Rwanda was shut.  It is not that the door will not reopen, it will one day, but for now it is shut.  When I heard the news I felt like the Lord really came over me with a sense of calmness and peace.  I knew He was in control and I needed to seek His will not mine.  My husband and I along with many people who love and care for us so deeply got into prayer about what to do.  Within 2 days it was crystal clear to both Kevin and I what our next step would be.

It's so strange to me why God will put you on one road and then take you to a dead end.  Sometimes I think we choose that road and God puts the dead end there to get us on the right road.  Other times I think your flexibility and faith is being tested.  Not knowing what God's actions were with this, we are nevertheless, on a new road.

As Kevin and I got into prayer, we reflect a lot on why we choose Rwanda in the first place.  We talked about it and both agreed it was because we wanted an African American girl and we wanted to go where the need was the most. 

We were naive to the fact there that was such a need right here in our own backyard.  We ignorantly thought that the children here may be without a mother or father but they were ok in foster homes.  We soon found out that there is a HUGE need for African-American, bi-racial and hispanic kids to be adopted here.  We also found out that families tend to go over seas to adopt black children but do not like to adopt them directly from the US.  Not sure if people are afraid of the health or lifestyles of the birth mother here or if there is part of the "status" to say you went overseas OR that God is just truly leading someone to go there.  We felt we were being lead to go there.  We know we want to be involved with missionary work there in the future and it seemed like a good fit.  The agency told us the adoption with Rwanda was a pretty fast and inexpensive adoption (relatively speaking).  They told us it would be 1 year to 1.5 years. Since this news of the hold on adoptions, time frame will be very different and as many of you know our family is structured with kids all 2 years apart.  One serious concern for us was messing with that and I am truly looking forward to going back to work, which I will not do until my youngest is 2. 

As we prayed so many things were getting revealed that pointed us to stay here and adopt.  So that is what we have decided to do.  We have decided to go with our old adoption agency and start the process with them.

For those of you that would like to adopt, they are a wonderful agency that has told me less than a year to wait for Nevaeh.  And knowing the agency from working with them before I trust them to be truthful and up front about everything.  If you would like information about them just email or call me!

Yesterday was tough!

May 13, 2010. I wonder if this date will have any significance in Nevaeh's story.  Yesterday I woke up with such a heavy heart for her.  I started my day by reading adoption quotes and praying for her.  Then about 3 hours later Elizabeth Styffe posted a video on facebook that showed a families journey to get their son from Rwanda.  I was a balling idiot, but the heaviness and the realness of Nevaeh was so present within me.  I was very anxious yesterday, and up until then I have not been.  We have our last 2 home study visits on Tuesday and Saturday of next week then we can proceed with getting our 1-600 application in.  Please pray for Nevaeh, not sure if she is born yet, but just pray for her.  Thanks!!

Progress!

Good Morning!  We seem to be chipping away at everything, but I know we must be missing something (this seems to easy)  so........

Heres where we are at

We have done: (none have been notarized.... waiting to do all at the same time)

Power of Attorney
Copies of Passports
Application Letter
Birth Certificates
Marriage Certificates
Physical Exams
Proof of Medical Insurance
W-2
Financial Statement
Declaration of Intent Letters
Family Composition Letter
Agency Post Placement Agreement
Guardianship Letter
Hague Training Certs

We :
are waiting for the police reports to come back (sent request 3/20/10)
sent in the I-600 Application on 4/6/2010 still have to send home study
waiting for my husband to complete his autobiography for the home study to begin
waiting to get all of our pictures done (should have done 2nd week of May)




If any of you know of something we are missing please let me know....

Paper Pregnancy...

This part of the process reminds of my pregnancy after we told everyone I was pregnant and the excitement was wearing off.  I was starting to grow in the belly area but not big enough where people knew I was pregnant, most thought I was just gaining a few pounds.....

This is the waiting stage for everyone else to do their jobs quickly and get me the things I need.  I had to order new birth certs, new passports, a new marriage license and a background check on each of us.  Once I get my birth certificate I can send in the I-600 and then wait again for their approval.  We are also waiting for the home study people to contact us.  It is now in the stage of "waiting" and for those that know me, patience is not one of my string qualities, but the end result is worth the wait!  Have a blessed day!

Did alot today!

Today we were assigned our family coordinator!  She sent me a bunch of paperwork that we need to get started on.  We need original copies of our birth certificates and marriage license (I ordered those today) and Kevin needs to get his passport BUT he needs a drivers license in order to get a passport so tomorrow he gets to goto the DMV before work (fun fun) and then Saturday he is going to the post office to get his passport! I made the appointment to get our physicals in April and tonight Kevin and I will get started on our letters.  I already completed the 8 hours of training needed, but Kevin has not so he will have to do that soon. 

We also found out that our adoption agency can now do our home study so I am looking forward to getting that started too!

I hope you are having a good day, mine is BUSY!!

Paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork!

Holy Cow!  There is so much paperwork!  I see why it takes so long.  So just for the next step we need:

-10 hours of training for both Kevin and I
- Pictures of family and home
- Letter from us to ministry stating why we want to adopt
- Have a home study done
- Get a state level background check on both Kevin and I
- Provide a financial statement
- Proof of medical insurance
- Physical/Medical Exam
- Provide W-2
- Each parent to write a letter of intent (huh?)
- Family composition letter (one for whole family)
- Color copy of passport (oh yeah both mine and Kevin's have expired!!)
- Marriage license
- Birth Certificates for Kevin and I
- I-171H (or I-797C)You get this after you fill out and send in form I-600A
- Power of Attorney Form
- Guardianship Letter

We are still waiting to be given a family coordinator at AWAA and then I will be able to ask her questions about all these items!  So, you all know what I will be doing in my spare time (what spare time!?!?!) God will have to provide! Goodnight, I am tired just looking at this list!!

Hill 2 was EASY!

I just spoke with Lynn at Saddleback Church who informed me about legislation that required insurance companies to cover adopted children without exclusions!  She was RIGHT!  I called my insurance back, they looked up the information and they will be sending me another letter that states as long as I put the child under my insurance within 31 days of having her with us, there is no pre-existing clause!  Praise God, for laws, Lynn and the gut feeling to not accept NO for an answer!!

down 1st hill up the 2nd....

Well we were APPROVED!  YEAH, but (did I tell you HOW MUCH I do not like buts?) We may have an issue with our issue with our insurance!  (did I mention how much I DO NOT LIKE insurance companies?)  Our insurance states that if we get a child and she has a condition that was found more than 3 months prior to our effective date (day we bring her home) there will be a 12 month waiting period before she can be covered!  So now I will be spending all day on the phone trying to get a straight answer and proof, then once I get it the adoption agency along with the Rwandan agency will have to approve the adoption!  URGHH!  I REALLY do not like insurance companies!

1st Hill

I heard from the agency today and was told our application looks good, but (I really hate buts) because we have 4 children it has to be approved by the Rwandan agency.  They prefer that you only have 2 other children in the house!  Now is the time I need SERIOUS prayer!  Please pray that they make the exception.  Please pray that they see no matter how many children we have we will provide a beautiful home for this little girl.  They said I should hear back by tomorrow or Thursday so I just ask that every time you think of me or my family say a quick prayer for us!  Thank you so much! 

The Glory to God

We started this process because we felt God was softening our hearts and this was what He wanted us to do, plus we wanted a little girl so badly.  When this all began we had no idea where we would get the money to pay for the adoption.  Friends of ours did fundraisers to off set the expenses and I have known others to finance their adoptions.   I began to pray about it, because I figured if this was really something God wanted us to do He would also provide the wisdom on where the funds would come from.

When my father passed away I received some jewelry from the estate.  Thru my prayers God revealed to me that we should sell a piece of jewelry to pay for the expenses of the adoption.  There was one particular piece that was heavy on my mind to sell.  So I called my brothers and a friend of ours who are all jewelers and asked if they could start to get the word out there.  I still felt like there was more I should do. I woke up one morning and thought I should send out an email to the friends and acquaintances of mine that could either afford this or may know someone who could afford this.  Before I sent the email I prayed and asked God to show me if I was on the right track.  I prayed that if I was doing His will, not mine that he would provide the sale of this piece.  If I wasn't doing His will I prayed the email would go unnoticed. So I sent out the email on February 13th at 11:27am.  Within 10 minutes I had an email back with someone showing interest and within 4 hours I had 2 others who wanted information.  On February 14th @7:58am (less than 24 hours later) I got a phone call from a friend saying they would like to purchase the piece.

We are totally confirmed that this is what God wants us to do and we will look to Him in making any decisions from this point on.  We can't screw it up when God is in control :-).  All the Glory goes to God!

 

Application sent in

Today I sent the application in to AWAA.  All this time I was waiting for them to send me something and the paperwork was online  just waiting to be downloaded!  So now we will wait to see if we are approved to adopt from Rwanda!  This is where it's left in God's hands, if this is what He wants us to do we will get approved!  Please pray for us!!

Already Impatient!

I still have not received the paperwork from AWAA.  They told me it would be 7-10 days well it's been 9!  I know, I know I need more patience!  This is going to be a long process so please pray for patience for me! 

Our First Step!

Today I called and ordered the paperwork to start the adoption process from Rwanda. We have been praying about this and we (Kevin and I) are taking this leap of faith. We have no idea how we are going to do the 2 weeks in Rwanda or pay for all of this but God is faithful and he will provide has He always does. We are going with American World Adoption Agency. We will keep you posted, please keep us in your prayers!