The Waiting....

So our home study is COMPLETE!

 

Now we enter a waiting period.  We understand there will be lots of these along the way, so I need to learn to be content with them.  And I do understand that this waiting period is short....sometimes I just feel that I need to actively DO something to get our son here quicker!!

 

We should receive the home study report in the mail tomorrow, and then we can file our I600A with immigration!!!! 

 

HOWEVER, we do not currently have the funds to do so.  The cost is $890, and we only have a small portion of that saved.  

Instead of borrowing, we have decided to wait.  Our fundraiser is coming up on July 8th at our church.  We are praying that we'll at least receive enough to send off this form.

 

The reason we're so anxious to get this part done, is because once it's filed and complete, we will be MATCHED with our son!!! We'll get to see his face!

 

So we're praying for His providence....we know He will provide.  In the meantime, He WILL provide us with peace and I need to rest in it and be content.  

 

So that's the latest little update for now!!

 

If you're interested, our fundraiser is after the service on July 8th.  It will be a large salad bar and Paul from Compassion for Congo will be giving the message that morning, as well as providing a Q&A at the lunch.  We also were just informed that the Women's Ministry will be putting some Teagles into a DUNK TANK!!!  Big surprise to us!  So if you want some food, info about adoption, and would like to see Chris in a dunk tank, then join us! 

 

 

Always praying for our son...

Goodnight for now!

It's moving along...

Sooo....it's late.  I just finished putting together some more hair clips to sell this weekend in Ione (all proceeds go to the adoption fund of course ;)

I should be in bed, but I thought I'd jot down a few notes first.

So, as I said before, we have enough money for our Home Study!  In fact, it's almost DONE!!!  

Yup, all paperwork is finished and turned in, interviews are complete.  Now we are just completing the online adoption education.  

What we THOUGHT was our first big hurdle really wasn't much of a hurdle at all!  There was no sitting around, waiting for money to come in or anything like that!  I got the paperwork filled out, and within days, the money was provided in different ways.  HE is our Provider.  

Just wanted to share.  

Our next step will be to file the I600A form with Citizenship and Immigration.  That cute little form will cost us $890 to file!!!  

Do we have that?  No.  

Will we?  Yes. 

How?  No clue.  

But we will work our little booties off as much as we can and see how The Lord chooses to provide for this next step.

AND after this expensive form has been accepted and filed, (which takes about a month-ish), we will be matched with our little boy!!!!!!  

We are REALLY looking forward to that!

So pray for us.  

We'll see how He works.

ALSO, my husband was ordained on Sunday.  Wow, what a morning.  I was incredibly humbled and a little emotional witnessing that.  For any of you who may not know what that means, it means that our elders, with the assistance of some elders/pastors from other churches evaluated Chris on his spiritual walk, growth, calling, and doctrine.  Based on that, and his ministry here at our church for many years, our elder board ordained him to be fit for the ministry of the Gospel.  It was pretty special...but like he has already said..."nothing really has changed!"  haha

But it was so neat to see our church in such support of him and our family.  The Lord was glorified as His Word went forth in affirming what God has called Chris to do.  

We are humbled, thankful, and very excited for our family's future!

I never know who reads these things, but thanks to any of you who do :)  I hope you have been encouraged.

K, enough.  Time for bed :)

What a Week!!

So this has been an incredibly busy, joyful, exciting, yet very tiring week!

Saturday was Compassion for Congo's benefit dinner.  Wow, what a blessing that was!  

We were able to see 5 sweet Congolese children that have new homes with Christian parents here in Northern California!  They sang a couple songs...and I shed a couple tears :)

We got a better understanding of how Compassion for Congo came into being and how it is being sustained.  I have to say that it was a little emotional for me (if you know me, you understand this is not surprising).  We had sweet fellowship with other followers of Christ and had lots of good conversations.  Everything we heard that night left Chris and I feeling more and more confidant that this is what The Lord is leading us to do.  Such a precious example God the Father has left for us.  He adopted US!  Filthy sinners!  And now we are so eager to bring home a little boy (YES, a boy!) and share with him WHY we adopted him.  Because he was helpless, and we were even more helpless than him without Christ!!!

So the bright shining light in our evening was the time spent with a very sweet couple that we are getting to know better.  Before we went home to our girls, they took us aside and gave us $100 to contribute to our adoption fund.  Very specifically, they knew this would be enough to pay for our home study!!!  WOW, how the Lord provides!!!  This, of course, made me burst into tears :)  We were overwhelmed with gratitude.  

Sunday morning, we announced our adoption plans to our congregation!  They were very supportive...and confused.  Chris used the term "my wife is with-child" to get their attention.  This wasn't completely cleared up and many people came up to me asking how my pregnancy was going!  haha!  Chris will need to clarify this next Sunday...I am not pregnant :)  But another sweet soul gifted us with another $100 that morning!  

THEN, that afternoon we had lunch for my sister-in-law's birthday.  She requested that any gifts for her, be redirected toward our adoption fund.  Bless my husband's family, we received ANOTHER $100!  SO, in two days we received $300.  

We mailed our home study paperwork off and now have enough to get our fingerprinting done as well.  Our God is our Provider.   And you'll hear me say this many more times, but I am ever so blessed to witness The Lord provide through His people.  It comes from HIM, yet it also comes from the generosity of others.  Such a sweet truth this is!!

Wow, this is long...but our weekend didn't end with lunch, we actually MOVED Sunday afternoon!  We are now in the home that we will bring our son home to.  And we are now all sick with colds as well :)  Gotta love God's timing, right???

 

 

Home Study

So I'd like to share a little bit of the process of adoption for those who do not know.

Our first step is some preliminary paperwork and interviews with the organization we are adopting through.  This part is just about over.

Our next step is to get a home study completed.  This is something that is new to us but every family adopting in the state has to have one completed.  An organization thoroughly examines our physical, financial, and emotional ability to adopt a child.  We are starting soon, and from what I hear, there is MUCH paperwork to be turned in!

There are also interviews involved as well.

AND the cost is pretty high.

We are expecting a cost of $2,400 for the home study to be completed.  Please pray for the Lord to provide.  We are doing our best to cut out anything unnecessary at home and make a few extra bucks on Etsy (you can visit my shop here).

We also need to obtain an I600.  This is done through citizenship and immigration and it approves us for an international adoption.

It also costs $890.
It also takes several weeks to obtain, so we need to start that very soon as well....

Another expense that we expect the Lord to provide for!

AFTER we have both of these in order, Compassion for Congo can match us with a child.  THAT is what we are anxiously awaiting!!!

We will then start some fundraising in hopes of sharing our desire to bring our child home and reaching out to those who would like to help make that happen.

I know there are lots of logistics written here, but I wanted to share with whoever was curious. :)

So please, as I said, be in prayer for us as we seek diligently what The Lord has heavily placed on our hearts.  If anyone would like to know how they can help, please feel free to email me!  Livn4hersavior@aol.com

You can also help by spreading the word about my Etsy shop (again the link here)