#8

We are number 8 on the waiting list!  I'm hoping maybe by March we will be matched with a one or two children.  We are open to two children if one is a girl.  Amaya still talks about her baby sister.  She asked the other day what color her baby sister would be.  I've always loved watching my children discover that Larry and I are different colors and they are different also.  It's usually around age 4 and it's like a lightbulb goes on.  Jayden asked why I was gray and his dad was black and he was brown.  I told Amaya that her baby sister will probably be more like daddy's color.  We are excited for the day we get to see a picture.  I think about our next Christmas and we will have one or two more children!

Not So Good At Blogging

I knew this would probably happen.  Life is busy and I don't make time to write anything.  I'm really hoping to do better.  My youngest sister had her baby girl, Isabella, on October 9th.  Her due date was Dec. 19th.  So I spend a lot of time at the NICCU with my sister.  She was 1lb 13 oz.  She is having a really rough start.  A week ago she had open heart surgery.  She is still trying to stay stable on her oxygen.  They change her machines often trying to find the right one.  It is amazing the technology they have to save babies this small.  I thought about the babies in other countries if they are born this small.  They don't really have a chance to survive.  In my sister's case both her and the baby would've died if they lived in another country without all the resources we have.  We are so lucky to have all that we do here.
The positive thing about being so busy is time is going by fast.  We've had all our paperwork turned into our agency and now we are just waiting for a match.  I think about our future daughter a lot.  The kids talk about it a lot and can't wait.  I just got a part time job being a tutor at the school I sub at a lot.  It is a great blessing because I will be able to have 5 months of a consistent pay check.  It will help a lot with all our expenses that will be coming up.  Once we are matched we have a huge payment due!  I hope to write another post this week.

I600a Mailed! Check!

One more thing checked off our list of things to complete for our adoption.  Homeland Security office should receive our application for the I600a today.  It is our 'petition to adopt'.  Now we have to wait for a fingerprint appointment.  Once we have the appointment we go to a Federal building to be fingerprinted.  Then we wait for the approval letter.  The approval letter is the last piece of paper needed to mail off our dossier.  It will be so nice to mail off all the paperwork and then we wait some more.  I'm really hoping we have a referral by Christmas.  I'll find out our official number on the wait list when I mail the dossier with another payment.

Sisters

My sisters are my best friends.  As Amaya started becoming older I've thought about my relationship with my sisters.  I really want Amaya to have a sister and be best friends.  I think about all the great things I do with my sisters and how we will always have each other.  This is why I wanted to choose to adopt one girl.  Although, I think boys are much easier to parent so far.  Amaya talks a lot about her baby sister.  She wants to know when she will be here.  She wants to buy clothes for her every time we are out shopping.  She just turned 6 and it's really hard for her to understand we don't know anything yet.  I tell her at the store we don't know how old she is or how big, so we have to wait to buy anything.  I'm hoping this is a start to a wonderful friendship.  It will be interesting when the adoption is finally done how Amaya will feel.  I can only hope that she will have a relationship like I have with my sisters!  We can't wait to meet our new daughter! (maybe son too?) 

Puzzle Fundraiser



Trying to think of ways to raise money for our adoption is very difficult.  We have paid for the first part but once we receive our referral we will have a big chunk of money we need to send in.  I really wish we just had it all and didn't have to think of fundraisers.  I think I'm learning I need to be humble and ask for help.  We've already had a few surprise donations which have been a blessing. 

I don't make amazing blankets or clothes.  I'm not an artist.  So I don't have anything I can make and sell.  I've seen the puzzle fundraiser on a few adoption websites.  I don't know how successful they are but it's worth a try.  I CAN put together a puzzle.  Here's how it works.  For every donation of $5 or more we will put your name on the back of a puzzle piece.  It's 500 pieces so we have enough pieces for everyone!!  We will frame the puzzle with glass on both sides so we can remember all of the people who helped us bring our daughter home.  We will hang it in her room.  You don't have to donate online.  You can mail it to us.  If you'd like our address you can email me at citejere@hotmail.com.  Thanks in advance for helping us!

As I searched for puzzles I had a few options that were African type puzzles.  Then I came across a puzzle that is my favorite painting by Greg Olsen.  The picture shows Christ leading a little girl.  For me it is like He is leading her to us.  When Amaya saw the picture she said "Hey that looks like me!"  That is why I love the picture.  My children can relate to it.  I know our future daughter will relate to it also.  Here is the poem that goes with the picture.  I plan to frame this also.
                                        

HAND IN HAND

Like a child in the woods I lost my way,
Alone and afraid I stopped to pray.

“Father in Heaven,” I cried in my need,
“Please guide me home, I’ll go where you lead.”

Like a light in the forest he sent down His Son,
My heart became warm, a new hope had begun.

“Take my hand and I’ll lead you,” I heard Him say,
“Stay by my side for I know the way.”

Now a child in the woods all filled with delight,
The journey is joyous as I walk in His light.

No longer alone in a shadow filled land,
He leads me home as we walk hand in hand.

Greg Olsen - 2007

Update Fundraiser & Homestudy

Today is the official day of Summer and I'm so happy for summer break.  I ended up having a long term sub job and I haven't had anytime to post.  A few weeks ago we had our first fundraiser.  We received a lot of donations for a huge yard sale.  We were so thankful for all the families that donated.  Our garage was looking like a scene from 'Hoarders'.  Larry and I woke up at 5am to start putting everything out.  Jayden and Keeyan also woke up early and didn't complain.  We had people start coming at 6:30am and they didn't stop until 12:30.  We were surprised because we live a little ways out and didn't think we would have so much traffic.  We made enough to cover the cost of our I600 and fingerprints!!  It was definitely worth all the work.  We had a lot of clothes left over so I'm going to sort through them and put them in a consignment sale in July.  I'm hoping to make a few more hundred there.  I'm still trying to think of other ways to raise some more money.  I think the cost of adoption is what keeps so many people away.  It is so expensive and a big sacrifice.  Another way to think of it though is how much do we spend on a car loan?  It is easy to spend a lot and what do we have to show for it.  It doesn't last forever and will depreciate in value.  Whereas bringing our child or children to our family will increase our family in ways we don't realize and it will last forever!!
HOMESTUDY
We are on our last interview for our homestudy!!  Saturday will complete the interviews.  We have 3 total and I've been trying to get the paperwork ready.  The kids medical checkups are done.  Larry and I have ours next week.  We are waiting for our background checks.  The Homestudy should be all ready by mid July.  Once we have our homestudy we can apply for the I600a from the government.  I'm hoping we have everything ready by then to send in our Dossier to our Agency.  FYI the Dossier is all the documents required by D.R. of Congo to adopt.  Once they receive it they translate it and we are waiting for a referral!!  It will be nice to have all the paperwork done for the first part and then we start the waiting game.

Congo

When we first started thinking about adoption we wanted to adopt from Ethiopia.  I did a lot of research and had friends that adopted from there.  I fell in love with the country and the people.  There are a lot of families who've adopted from there.  We signed up with an agency.  We were waiting to save more money before we started more of the process.  Now I'm thinking we might have been waiting for a different reason.  Just recently Ethiopia changed their international adoption.  They are saying they will cut adoption by 90%.  Many don't believe they will cut it that much but no one really knows yet.  The things I read still say plan on significant delays.  We were already looking at 2yrs or more before.  A country can stop adoption at any time. 
I asked my friend, who I ask all my adoption questions to, if she knew of other programs.  She told me her friend is just completing an adoption from the Democratic Republic of Congo.  I started looking more into Congo.  International adoption is still fairly new there.  There are an estimated 5 million orphans there.  So we have decided to go with Congo for our adoption.  We have to apply with a new agency.  We just mailed our first application in. 

Deciding to Adopt

The title of my blog says it all.  I really thought we were done having kids.  Sometimes in life something comes along that we never expected.  I debated whether to start a blog or not.  After reading so many other blogs of people who adopted, I thought it will be a good way to keep a journal of our journey.  Hopefully I'll do better than I do on my facebook.

Deciding to adopt has been a huge decision for us.  We've been talking about it and praying for a year.  What started it all??  There was a family I met during soccer season last year.  Their son played on my oldest son's soccer team.  They adopted a beautiful girl from Ethiopia.  They are a wonderful  family.   Throughout the season I got to know them and they told me about adopting their daughter.  I didn't feel inspired at first, but as time went on I started thinking about it.  Maybe we are suppose to adopt.  I thought there was no way Larry was going to agree to this.  I needed to make sure this was something I really wanted to do. 

I thought and prayed about it for a few months before I mentioned anything to Larry.  His reaction was what I expected. "I thought we were done"  Amaya just started school and now I wanted to start all over.  Our kids are all at the easier stages right now.  Things are good.  We decided not to rush into anything and think about it. 

6 months later I still felt really strong about it.  I started talking more about it to Larry.  He started to warm up to the idea.  It is very expensive to adopt, so that was a major issue.  We know this is what we are suppose to do.  We have been saving and also thinking of fundraisers we could do.    We were going to adopt from Ethiopia, but things have been changing with their adoption process.  We are now considering Democratic Republic of Congo.  I know where ever we are led will be the place we are supppose to adopt.  We hope to adopt a girl 0-3years old.  Amaya is very excited to have a sister!