2011 Picture Wrap Up

I started my phone dump from April in this post, but stopped in August.

So here is the rest of my year according to my iPhone!

 

The Cellar! Passion Preview!

Football Season!

 

Rice Festival…Curly Fries, Gumbo, and Joe Nichols

 

Watching my biggest little brother at cheer at Rice.

Halloween 2011!
Halloween- Jason Bourne and Pig in a blanket!

 
#TeamBusen!

Women of Faith!

Alabama Secret Church Trip!

 

Bunco-Palooza!!

Christmas Season!

Pump up!

If this song doesn't get you pumped up, I don't know what would...

Please turn up your volume and sing along at the top of your lungs...

All the cool kids are doing it...

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Ryan, Arin, and Jovie

Two little boys...

I have had two very special little boys weighing so heavily on my heart lately. I can't share a picture, but please pray for Kujo and Kofi. They are brothers in Ghana that desperately need to be saved.  Prayer is powerful.  Please pray this Christmas season!!

Remember Legasa, Kujo, and Kofi. My heart beats for them :) My God can save them. He can set the lonely in familys. He is the Great Physician.

Today I would like to leave you with some of my favorite highlighted bible verses...

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in PRAYER- Romans 12:12

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received- Ephesians 4:1

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:18

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!!- Phillipians 4:4

Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.- 1 Thessalonians 1:5

Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Religion that God our father accepts as PURE and FAUTLESS is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress AND to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. -John 1:27

The angel said to me,"These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place"- Revelation 22:6

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.- Revelations 22:17

Pray...

A few days ago Ryan and I received the sweetest letter in the mail. It was a hand written note from our sponsor child from Project 61. His name is Legasa. I was given a report a few months ago about him that said, "Of the 150 or so of our boys at the Shashemene boarding school he was selected to be on a leadership committee of 5 boys. He is a good student, well respected by his peers and by the school!"

My heart was bursting with joy to hear this! What a difference sponsoring a child can make!!!

Today, my heart is hurting. We just received an email that Legasa's health is not good. He having tests run because they are concerned he may have Leukemia.

Please pray for Legasa specifically by name today. Maybe throught the rest of this Christmas season you could shout out some prayers for him. Thank you :)

Also, if praying just doesn't seem like enough for you, check out Project 61 and see what you could do to help. Maybe sponsor a child, take a mission trip, or send some gifts? It's an amazing organization.  

It's not all sunshine and butterflies....

I have been wanting to blog this for awhile now, but for some reason I just never have actually sat down and wrote it. It could be because it is still very fresh and the perfect ending hasn't quite appeared yet. Nevertheless, here goes...

Ryan and I had started this adoption journey almost a year ago. Around February we both felt totally called to adoption and from Ethiopia. I had told  a few people and they seemed pretty excited, or at least okay with the idea. We quickly realized that we would not be able to adopt until we are closer to 25, so we said well lets just try and have a baby the old fashion way. So I went back to those few people and told them our new plan.  Their reactions were typical. Excited, but not overly in your face excited. Well fast forward to July and we find out we are able to start the adoption process now. I have never been more excited or sure of something in my life. I was jumping up and down dancing around my room like a crazy person. So we started the applications. After we got approved we were so excited we wanted to tell our families and friends.

Dunnn dunnn dunnn....

Rose colored glasses turned completely clear, the sunshine had turned to night, and the the butterflies had died. People were NOT very excited about this little announcement.  Suddenly all the excitement of our adoption had been crushed and it hadn't even been a month yet. Now to be fair, we had a FEW people who were on board and excited with us. (They reactions are more precious to us than anything else- Thank you if you're reading this...) This was a really hard pill to swallow. I suddenly realized that I was no longer making people proud. Instead we were doing something that was going to hurt them and apparently us.  This was going to be hard.

Most people acted like it wasn't happening and avoided the subject. This hurt. Imagine telling someone you got into college and they all said well okay, and then never brought it up again? Or imagine telling them you are getting married and they don't want to know any of the details...no date, no color scheme, no flowers, no bridesmaids, nothing. Then imagine telling them you are pregnant with the first baby. This one is the worst for me. I suddenly realized I could NOT compare this adoption announcement to a pregnancy announcement. Even.though.it.felt.like.the.same.thing.to.me. It was hard. 

Now there were a few people that eventually told us how they felt. This was welcomed after the harsh opposite of ignoring the situation. As happy as we were that they were at least talking about the adoption (even negatively) the comments still hurt. They still sting. Some are still fresh and haven't been healed.  Some of the worst thing I have ever been told happened during this time. It was hard.

I am so grateful for my husband during this time. I truly had to rely on him in a way I never had before. It was literally me and him against the world for the first time our life. My faith was tested and my feelings toward our adoption was tested. Thank God, Ryan was on board with this. I was the one who was backing away, I was the one second guessing everything, I was the one who couldn't handle the criticism, I was the one who wanted out. I couldn't handle being the black sheep.  I couldn't do this. However, I wasn't alone. I had God and I had Ryan on my side. When we would leave after having rough conversations I would just cling to my faith. If God didn't want us to do this, He would close the doors. Literally I lived and breathed that. He would close the doors. If this wasn't in His plan it wouldn't happen. I still cling to that when I start to get overwhelmed with all the uncertainty. Without God and without Ryan I could not be adopting. It is hard.

I write all of this for anyone considering adoption. When I was reading blogs I never saw anything like this. I only saw excited grandparents and happy friends and families. While things are getting sooooo much better, it is still hard and there are still wounds. However, I know it is worth it. Even if the adoption were to stop now, it would have been worth it. We have shared Christ and seen Christ so much that it is worth every wound. Following Christ is hard.

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow will be two years since we officially became this little family.



charity:water= Christmas

I have been a supporter of Charity:Water for close to a year now. I really believe it is a fantastic organization. My dream would be to see my friends and family step up and have a Project fully funded. That costs 5,000. That is A LOT, but it serves 250 people with clean water.
"charity: water projects cost an average of $5,000 to implement. So if you raise $5,000, we recognize you as a water project “sponsor.” This means that you or your campaign will be recognized at the actual water project you helped fund!"-charity:water

*YOU* can be a part of that! Together we could bring water to a community. Doesn't that just make you so excited?! It certainly does me. Unrealistic- Maybe, Probably even, but I did say my DREAM.

Realistically I would be happy with any amount. My goal right now is $250. This is hopefully achievable since my anniversary, Christmas, and my birthday are coming up...

God can do BIG things!!

So, if you're reading this and your my family or friend, head on over to my Faithful In Flats donation page: http://mycharitywater.org/faithfulinflats


If you're thinking of buying me a *gift* for one of the three events I listed above (anniversary, Christmas, or my birthday), I would seriously LOVE a donation instead!!

Yes I love to get "real" presents, but I can sacrifice opening gifts to give someone water in need. Any amount would do. Maybe you really don't want to do this, you want to actually buy something. Well let me recommend maybe just donate $5! Buy me a cheaper gift!

As I am writing this, I think it sounds really shallow assuming people are like dying to buy me gifts. However, I just want to get the word out and I don't know how else to do it.

If you don't know what charity:water is, please watch this quick video.

Once again, if you would like to donate follow this link: http://mycharitywater.org/faithfulinflats.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

One step closer...

After this weekend, we are one step closer to a completed Dossier!! We got lots of papers notarized- FINALLY. We also got two of our three reference letters back! So whats left?

We are still waiting on getting our Home Study report back. Once we have that we will have to get fingerprinted. That stuff is all out of our control.

We need to:
Get passport sized pictures taken.
Complete our family photo pages.

Yep. That is all we have left. I know I have said like 100 times that we are finished with the paperwork. Well we were technically finished with filling out all our paperwork awhile back, but we weren't quite finished notarizing and getting them approved.

Comeeee on H.S. report :)

Confessions of a paper pregnant momma:

Confessions of a paper pregnant momma:

I stare at every single black boy I see. I can’t help it, all I think is that is what my son will look like. 

I also can not pull my eyes away from a family of mixed races. Are they adopted? Where are they from? Where do they live? Where do they go to church? Do they have a blog?

I have no idea how to properly start a conversation with mixed families.

I am offended by people using ignorant comments about other races, but I haven’t hit the intolerable stage. 
I feel it won’t be long…

I am surprised at how relatively fast the paper chase has gone.  It isn’t actually being completed in the time frame I thought, BUT I have just been so busy with life that it hasn’t been killing me waiting for our DTE.

I try not to tell people HOW long the wait is going to be for our referral. It just seems so long. I feel like people will write the process off if they know that it might not be for another year before I even see my baby’s face.

The journey so far has not been all butterflies and rainbows. I guess that is what makes the rainbows extra special when we have them. 

I LOVE when someone asks about our adoption. Seriously, love it. :)

God has been brought to attention so many times because of our adoption.  I have read on lots of blogs that you really get to experience God in a new way through adoption, and I know that is so true.

Baking the season bright…

The past few days have been filled with baking!  Last night we had a Cookie Exchange/ Bunco party for the girls and a Tshirt Decorating contest for the boys.  The boys all really put in good effort for their shirts and they turned out better than expected! At one points the girls were inside playing bunco and football was on and the boys were outside decorating and listening to Christmas music. Needless to say, it was a really fun night and here are some pictures!
Sooo many wonderful cookies!

Good effort. Diversity!

Winner! ^^

Some of the girls!

Dream On...

Last night I had a dream about my baby. And orphans.

 It was a really special dream because I actually saw his face. I have had a dream before of me holding a baby, but this was a different baby. This baby's name was Everett (Real Ethiopian right? lol), and he was very young and very sick. I don't actually remember if I was looking at his picture or if he was actually with me, but nonetheless I saw his face.
I am very grateful for that part of the dream.

The rest of the dream was really sad. I was at an orphanage with lots of older boys and I was like "studying" their personalities. I guess I was trying to see which one I was going to adopt. Strange. At one point we went into a room and all the beds were built in cages. It was really sad. I woke up with just a heavy heart because all the boys wanted a family so badly.

I really felt like I had been at an orphanage first hand. All day I have had a longing to be back there. I want to love on those boys and they weren't even real!! I don't know how I will handle actually seeing children in an orphanage.

So that was my dream. Funny how hard dreams can pull on your heart.

New sites...

Not much to update on the personal life, but I did find some new sites!!

Freeset- "Freeset is a fair trade business offering employment to women trapped in Kolkata's sex trade. We make quality jute bags and organic cotton t-shirts, but our business is freedom!"
Green Heart-"Greenheart Shop is Chicago’s only nonprofit eco friendly, fair trade store. Greenheart is fair to producers and good to the earth through its support of local, social enterprises and global fair trade partnerships. Please visit our store in Chicago or shop online!"

SERRV-"For more than 60 years, SERRV has worked to eradicate poverty through our direct connections with low-income artisans and farmers. We market their crafts and foods, find joint solutions to their challenges, and help them grow and embrace the future. One of the first alternative trade organizations in the world, SERRV is a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization (formerly IFAT) and a founding member of the Fair Trade Federation (FTF)."

This will probably be the last shop with purpose post for awhile...just wanted to give a good assortment for Cyber Monday!!

Shopping with a Purpose…

One of my favorite blogs Rage Against the Minivan, already did some research and found more great sites! Check out more in-depth reviews on her site, but here are the organizations she recommended:
Ever/After Clothing – Super cute simple/modern clothes for kids. (Some adult selects)
Slow Color- Soft scarves
Krochet Kids- Really cute beanies! (Adult and kids)
31 Bits- Great jewelry
Not for Sale- Journals, bags, scarves, and clothes!
Haitian Creations- Purses, bags, and jewelry
Punjammies- Cute lounge wear and PJs!
Seriously, I know pictures would help a lot, but this stuff is so cute. Head over to Rage Against the Minivan, OR just click directly on the link!!
Now here are some of my personal favorites:
Hello-Somebody- Great Bundle Package available for this weekend!!
Noonday Collection- Wayyy cute stuff
Toms- The gift that started it all…
147 Million Orphans- This gives back to Ryan and I and people around the world!

Cyber Mondayyyy!

 

Last year I started shopping with a purpose for Christmas. I did pretty good, but this year I am sure I can do better.

Here is a list of organizations I recommended last year.

Leslie Allison Designs*

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Global Good Partners

MD Anderson Cancer Center

FEED*

fashion ABLE

Jedidiah

Invisible Children

 

The *ONLY* downfall to shopping with a purpose is almost everything has to be bought online. I really love to actually go shopping for Christmas presents, but I guess I will just make do!

Now here is the cool thing. Cyber Monday is going to offer LOTS of goodies I am sure. So you might want to check out these sites this weekend and go ahead and pick out what your going to buy. You never know when you might score some free shipping!!! I have already found one of the sites that is offer 15% off and free shipping on Monday!

I will try to list more sites available before Monday…

 

Disclaimer: I haven’t actually bought from all of these sites, but they all have super cute stuff! I don’t know if they will offer any deals on Cyber Monday, but they might! If the links don’t work for some reason, just google the name and the website will surely come up!

*I have actually bought something from this organization.

Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!



Healthy Girl

Today I am thankful for my health. I am so grateful to live in a country that allows me to have access to the best medical care. I am also grateful that at the moment, I don't need the best medical care. I recently talked to a women who was just floating along going to school and interning to be a teacher. Then BAM she had a stroke. Now she is getting food delivered to her, and is just totally living a new normal. When briefly talking to her, I could just see myself in her. I am so glad that I have been giving this life to live.

My organization today is a pretty common one, but a great one none the less!
Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

"On any given day, more than 27,000 committed individuals representing dozens of nationalities can be found providing assistance to people caught in crises around the world. They are doctors, nurses, logistics experts, administrators, epidemiologists, laboratory technicians, mental health professionals, and others who work together in accordance with MSF's guiding principles of humanitarian action and medical ethics."-http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/aboutus/?ref=main-menu

Time to Share

I have felt like I need to blog about this for the past two days, but just haven't really wanted to do it. Ryan shared his testimony on facebook bible study thing, and I guess that is what sparked this in me. It might be time to share my testimony. Every time I am asked to share my testimony I usually whine about it, or skip the question for last if I am filling something out. I don't think it is a bad story, I just think it is long and usually changes every time I tell it. Its not some clear cut story. So here goes. (Yes- I just let out a ughhhhh)

My story starts with Ryans...
In the summer of 2010 Ryan and I got to go to our first youth camp together as sponsors. We went to Super Summer. I was probably way more excited because I had been a sponsor before, but really missed Ryan.I was really excited for him to be with me. However, this camp we got split up and really never saw much of each other. On the first day all the Team Leaders were talking about the reason they came back to the camp was because it changed their lives. I came just because it seemed like a fun camp. Throughout the week I could tell Ryan was having a BLAST. He was the happiest and most outgoing I had ever seen him in public. I, on the other hand, was a bit jealous and annoyed and ready to go home.

Upon returning home Ryan was a totally different person. I knew something had changed, but I wasn't really sure what that meant. As the days and maybe even weeks went by he wasn't going back to his old self, and I was kind of getting annoyed. Things were just floating along, and Ryan laid off the Jesus talk and happy go lucky stuff because he knew I wasn't feeling it.

That is also the first summer I found the wonderful world of blogs. I became obsessed with home improvement and DIY craft blogs. I guess I must have stumbled across some adoption blogs because I remember starting to watch "Gotcha Day" videos on youtube.

This is when it becomes my story...
On October 15th, I took a half day from work because we were closing on our house! We were going to officially become home owners that afternoon. I came home from school and took a shower so my hair would be cute for pictures and then got on the Internet. I started watching some more Gotcha Day videos and I just knew that this was something I wanted to do. I wanted to adopt a baby.

Ryan came home and I realized I had forgot my Beth Moore bible study book at the church, and Ryan had to talk to our associate pastor. On our way to the church, I told Ryan I really wanted to adopt a baby. He made me tell him my reasons and they were not very good reasons (I can't even remember them now). Anyway he wasn't really on board at the time. Then we went and talked to our A.P. and told him that I wanted to adopt. He told us that we should maybe try living overseas before settling down and adopting. I am sure he was just meaning like it would be a good idea. You don't actually need to do it, but none the less the seed was planted.

We left and went to sign for the house. After we signed the house I specifically remember telling Ryan, "I feel so free". I couldn't figure out WHY I felt so relieved and just at peace and free. (Now I do).

After the signing, we went to Walmart and Ryan said wouldn't it be crazy if we became international missionary. I was like YAHH! That would be awesome (Not the answer he expected I am sure). Then the rest of the trip we just talked about "Wouldn't it be crazy...." things.

The next morning Ryan was making me breakfast and he told me he had googled Engineering Mission groups. He found one called eMi. I thought it was so awesome and ready to sell everything and go. We told our parents that we both felt called to become missionaries a few days later. This was intense. It was wild, and it was all God.

We eventually realized that we were not going to be full-time missionaries and weren't quitting our jobs, but we did apply for a Volunteer position with eMi.

Anyway...that was when it started. Around that time we were reading Crazy/Love and Radical. Our lives were shifting and God was moving. Looking back I now see that the day we signed for our house was whe God opened my eyes to a whole world of possibilities. He freed me from the life of living the average American Dream. He showed me that my dreams were bigger than the American Dream.  From then on he has been ruining my life for Him.

I became the changed one and Ryan and I were forever changed as a couple. We are so blessed that we both had our hearts changed within a short time frame from each other. Our marriage has just gotten better and better, and our lives have so much more meaning. We are truly better people because of Jesus and the grace he has given us. He chose us to follow his word and spread his name. We are both so honored to have this together.

See what I mean about ughhhhhhh. Its a great story, but long. Everytime I think about it I see something new that happened, that God did.
I heard a song on the radio the other day that said something along the lines of "break my heart to make my feet move". I know that is isn't the exact line, but something like that. I realize that is exactly what God did. He broke my heart for orphans and moved my heart to action. Through that move He stepped in and took over my life.

Official Home Owners....and so much more....

We. Are.

FINISHED.

We had our LAST Home Study tonight! Ahhhh. I am sooo relieved. This last week all I have been thinking about is cleaning the house, getting it ready, and actually being interviewed!!! I am so glad it is over, and it was very painless! The house inspection part was way better than I anticipated. The interview was harder than the first one, but overall I think it went okay!

We have a few forms we need to get notarized, finish making our Family Photo Page for our Dossier, get two passport sized pictures taken, and we are donnnnnne. With our part of the process. That is just so exciting.

God really pulled through on some of my big prayer requests about this visit, and I am so grateful! (One being Jovie's behavior. She stayed outside and was good!)

Guess what??

Today I am super thankful for our adoption! I am just filled with joy to be apart of something so wonderful. Today we had a family from our church legally grow to a family of 5 because of National Adoption Day. I am so happy for them and loved seeing this process from the very beginning. If you are even interested in adoption, I urge you to start stalking following some of the adoption blogs I have listed on the right of my blog. It will move your heart and push you in the direction you need to go. I believe God totally opened my eyes and heart to adoption through blogs. Silly as that sounds it is true! So start reading and listening to your heart, just see what God sparks in you. Also, please feel free to message me if you ever have any questions!!!

Oh by the way. 147 Million Orphans has created a new partnership program that allows you all to buy shirts directly from their site, and we will get some of the proceeds!! Yahh!! All you have to do is order directly from this link: http://www.147millionorphans.com/?AffId=15

Another great thing about this new program is that ALL the merchandise helps our adoption!! So anything you buy will help us out, as long as you start off from the link above!!

Thanks for everyone who has already bought and shirt, and for anyone who might in the future! I get so excited to see people wearing them. I don't care so much about the money (although it is a WONDERFUL perk), I really care about the advocacy you all do when wearing the t-shirts. We are opening the eyes of our community to adoption! Thank you!!!!!

Jesus Christ

Today I am thankful for Jesus Christ. I am hesitant to even say this, but I know this can sound kind of cheesy. However, I don’t feel like it is at all. I am so thankful for Him. I am grateful that God took the LOWEST form as a human being and lived and served among us. He knows every feeling and emotion we are going through because He also lived it. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”- Hebrews 4:15 Jesus was a real person. Historians can prove it. He was here walking and talking and healing, and just hanging out. Here is an awesome blog about how the Bible proves Jesus was just like us (except without sin)- human. http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/jesus-is-fully-human

So what could my organization be that supports Jesus? Well I am so thankful that I am an American citizen and have the ability to read the Bible in multiple translations and freely. Some of our fellow humans are not so lucky. They have government restrictions. OR they honestly do not have a single person that knows Jesus to tell them about the Good News!

 Have you ever heard of the 10:40 window? Well, “The 10/40 Window is an area of the world that contains the largest population of non-Christians in the world. The area extends from 10 degrees to 40 degrees North of the equator, and stretches from North Africa across to China.”- http://1040window.org/what_is.htm

Read more about the 10-40 window here: http://www.joshuaproject.net/10-40-window.php

Again, what is the organization for supporting Jesus? It is the Joshua Project.
“Joshua Project gathers, integrates, and shares people group information to encourage pioneer church-planting movements among every ethnic group and to facilitate effective coordination of mission agency efforts.”- http://www.joshuaproject.net/joshua-project.php

Why is this important??

“Joshua Project is a research initiative seeking to highlight the ethnic people groups of the world with the fewest followers of Christ. Accurate, regularly updated ethnic people group information is critical for understanding and completing the Great Commission. Jesus said in Matthew 24:14 "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." Jesus directly links His return to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. While no one knows the date or time of His return, we do know that this gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all the nations first. Revelation 5:9 and 7:9-10 show that there will be some from every tribe, tongue, nation and people before the Throne.”- http://www.joshuaproject.net/joshua-project.php

So jump on over to www.Joshuaproject.net !

Picture Perfect

Today I am thankful for pictures. For as long as I can remember I have loved looking at pictures. My memory is not very good, so pictures are very special to me :)

My organization today is super cool. It is called Help Portrait.
"HELP-PORTRAIT IS A GLOBAL MOVEMENT OF PHOTOGRAPHERS USING THEIR TIME, GEAR AND EXPERTISE TO GIVE BACK TO THOSE IN NEED."- help-portrait.com

Seriously this might be my favorite organization I have covered. Just watch this video or check out their website. http://www.help-portrait.com/

Tunes in the Cellar!

Here are some of the recent songs we have used during worship at the Cellar...

All Sons and Daughters- All the Poor and Powerless
All Sons and Daughters- Alive
J.J. Heller- Kingdom Come
City Harmonic- Mountain Top
Mercy Me- Free
John Mark McMillian- Death in His Grave
Run Kid Run- Freedom
John Foreman- Your Love is Strong
Matt Maher- Christ is Risen
Gungor- Beautiful Things

What’s next??

Soooo after our home studys are finished what is next??  I am actually kind of nervous about this part because it is all out of my control. My first taste of waiting! After our last interviews, our social worker will write up a report. Then she has to send it to our AWAA Social worker, then to our Family Coordinator, then back to our local social worker to make and revisions. Then the report comes to us and we have to approve it. I’m not exactly sure where it ends up, but when all those people sign off on in then it is complete! The timeline for this to all be complete is around 6-8 weeks. I hope with the holidays being thrown in there it won’t take much longer!

Once our H.S. report is complete then we can submit the 1-600A application to USCIS.
A set of forms used to officially request permission from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to classify a child in a foreign country, who fits the definition of an "orphan," as an immediate relative of its intended adoptive parents, so that there can be an expedited processing and issuance of a visa to that child, allowing it to be brought into the United States, either after having been adopted abroad, or in order for it to be adopted in the United States.- Adoption.com

After we apply to USCIS we will get an appointment to get our fingerprints. The timeline for the fingerprint appointment is 4-12 weeks. YIKES! Pray for the 4 weeks!

Once we get the fingerprints then we get our dossier documents certified. I don’t know how long this part takes, but I have a few weeks to figure it out!!

After that we make lots of copies and mail off our dossier! Then we will officially be DTE!!! *Dossier to Ethiopia**

When DTE happens ladies and gentlemen…Our wait time officially begins. The current average wait time for a infant boy is 10-15 months.  This is to get our referral for our sweet baby boy!!

After the referral is accepted, we will son in Ethiopia, Africa waiting for US to come get him!!

Then we wait another month or two for a court date. We will go to Africa for about a week and meet our baby. If we pass court he will legally become our son!  Then we come home and wait. I’m sure this will be the worst part, but hopefully it will pass by quick!

Then we will get the call to return to Ethiopia and pick up our son forever!
That my friends is what our future timeline holds. God speed.

Home Study 101

We have two of our four home studys completed! Yahh!! Our next two are going to be on Sunday. (God willing- I get a little nervous announcing it Just hoping I don’t jinx it!) Our social worker is going to be coming to our house this time.
Our first H.S. was in Huntsville and she just drilled us with an 1 1/2 hours of questions. They ranged from “Why do you want to adopt?”, to “What are your strengths and weakness of your marriage” to anything else you could possibly think of couple related. I would love to see how people who are wanting to get pregnant would do on these tests. I bet there would be a lot less pregnancies! You really have to want to adopt to do this!! However, as stressful as that sounds, it really was very relaxed interview. We both left feeling like we answered everything truthful and hoping for the best!
Our second H.S. was much more laid back. It was a training session, not so much an interview. There were four other America World adoptive couples, an adoptive mom of 7 (or 9- I can’t quite remember), and an adult adoptee. The stories from the mom and adult adoptee were awesome. I am really glad they were there to give their testimonies. The rest of the training was making sure we are prepared for having a biracial adoptive family. Scary, but necessary.
The next two H.S. are individual interviews. Ryan and I will both get interviewed separately. I am assuming the questions will be geared more towards making sure we are emotionally ready to handle parenthood. All the books I have been reading talk a lot about making sure the parents are emotionally stable. Our kiddo could have some serious “issues” and if we have our own “issues” that haven’t been dealt with then we are all in trouble. Hopefully my “issues” aren’t anything out of the norm! We all have sommmmme issues right?? She also is going to check our house to make sure it is baby ready! This makes me super excited, but also kind of panicky. We still have plenty of time before the baby gets here, but we better get ready! Some things on our list to buy and install are: fire extinguisher, new batteries for fire alarms, baby proof all our drawers (yikes!), outlet covers for all of our electric sockets. Those are pretty much it which isn’t that bad, but I am not really looking forward to having baby proofed drawers and no baby!  However, I will do whatever it takes!!!

Laptop :)

Today I am thankful for my laptop and just plain ol' desktop. I spend a lot of time on computers. I make a living teaching children how to use them, and my favorite hobby is to read blogs and use social media! I also think technology has given us the opportunity to help each other and spread the message of Christ and his love for us.

Today my organization is One Laptop Per Child: OLPC.

Mission:
We aim to provide each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop. To this end, we have designed hardware, content and software for collaborative, joyful, and self-empowered learning. With access to this type of tool, children are engaged in their own education, and learn, share, and create together. They become connected to each other, to the world and to a brighter future.- OLPC

How are they distributed?
The laptops are generally sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child; using this model, we began deployments around the world in 2007. An additional allocation of machines was used to seed the developer community, to enable a broader community of participation, and roughly 80,000 laptops were donated to countries around the world through grassroots donation efforts. As of 2011, over 2 million laptops-  have been distributed under this model.-OLPC





Where are the laptops going?
Over 1.7 million children and teachers in Latin America are currently part of an OLPC project, with another 400,000 in Africa and the rest of the world. Our largest national partners include UruguayPeru  (the first major country in the world to provide every elementary school child with a laptop), (our largest deployment, involving over 8,300 schools), Argentina, Mexico, and Rwanda. Other significant projects have been started in Gaza, Afghanistan, Haiti, Ethiopia, and Mongolia. Every school represent a learning hub, a node in a globally shared resource for learning.-OLPC

eMi

Today I am thankful for my husband and his engineering job. He is so smart and is a great engineer. In many ways our lives have been blessed and changed by his engineering career. We first started our missions because we found a International Engineering Missions group called eMi.  We applied and our lives were rocked by our first mission trip to Nicaragua. Without that trip I’m not sure what our lives would be like today! We are also blessed sooo greatly by his job financially. God has provided for our the bulk of our adoption by Ryan’s job.
Today my organization is eMi. If you are interested in engineering and how you can use it to spread God’s glory, this is a place for you!!
What is eMi?
“Engineering Ministries International (EMI) is a
non-profit Christian development organization made up of architects, engineers and design professionals who donate their skills to help children and families around the world step out of poverty and into a world of hope.”-eMi

Ryan and I in our eMi hats!

Working on getting a vision for the new eMi multipurpose campus.

Our team working on blue prints and plans for the town of Rama, Nicaragua.

Ryan working on the water system at a church in Bluefields,Nicaragua.

Spouses can go on the engineering trip too….

Noonday collection

Today I am super thankful for my friends. I love having such different groups of friends that all help me be a better person in different ways. I am so fortunate to have great girls to call on!

My organization today is noonday collection.

What is Noonday?
”The Noonday Collection offers fashion forward accessories for you and your home handcrafted by artisans from around the world that receive a living wage for their work. Every item is handcrafted in style, with love, and creates a pathway out of poverty for these artisans. Proceeds also help place orphans in forever families.”Noonday Facebook Page

How did Noonday start??
"After visiting Uganda in February of 2010 and holding hundreds of children without moms and dads, Joe and Jessica Honegger (the founder) decided to adopt internationally (from Rwanda). Also on that visit, they met up with long time friends who had lived in Uganda for many years trying to create sustainable income opportunities for the Ugandan people. They asked Jessica if she would like to sell the fair-trade locally made goods in Austin, in order to raise money for the costly adoption process. Jessica agreed and the first Noonday Collection trunk show was born! You can read more about her story here.

Word spread quickly about Noonday's envied products and the lives they impact. Other women wanted to style their friends while advocating for women and kids. Soon, the Ambassador program launched and Noonday Collection will soon be found in a home near you!"- Noonday

When I first saw this jewelry I immediately thought of all  my friends. The collections just looked like my friends! So head on over to noonday collection and buy some really cute stuff!!