Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Fingerprint Appointment
We have our fingerprint appointment! This is the last step until we are DTN!!! Our appointment is October 30 which happens to be our 16th wedding anniversary! Also it was three years ago on Oct. 30 that our dossier arrived in Beijing, China!
We are excited to see how the Lord is going to provide the rest of the funds needed to send our dossier off to Nepal! HE IS FAITHFUL!
We are excited to see how the Lord is going to provide the rest of the funds needed to send our dossier off to Nepal! HE IS FAITHFUL!
Monday, September 21, 2009
We have a faithful Father who loves us! He's our provider!
Ok, are you ready to sit back and listen to an amazing story? Good!
As many of you know Mike and I are about finished with our dossier! Praise the Lord! As we have been paper chasing we have been seeking the Lord to provide the money needed for this adoption. The Lord has provided every penny we've needed and we've had it right on time without having to wait to move forward on anything! On Thursday we heard from our home study provider and FHSA that everything looked good and we should have our home study in hand early next week. We were thrilled to have that piece done and now only had our I171H left to do/get!
In our adoption account we have 539.00. We will need to pay for our home study this week which will cost 400.00 leaving us with 139.00 and we need 700.00 to move forward. Mike and I were talking Thursday about how the Lord has provided the $ on time with each step so far but knowing that we had NO resources to pull from and so we were just going to have to wait and trust the Lord that He would provide the money when it was His time for us to move forward.
On Thursday I posted on my facebook that I was going to have one more yard sale on Friday and Saturday. I was praying that we could maybe raise the much needed 700.00. The only thing different from this yard sale then the ones I've done this year is I was doing it with two girlfriends from church who are also adopting. So we were going to split the money three ways. I knew it was unlikely that we'd raise that much money because we didn't have that much for the sale. I mean this was my 4th yard sale this year! I'm running out of things to sell!!
On Thursday, Sept 17 at 8:00pm I got a message from someone (that I didn't really know) telling me they had a TV they wanted to give us to help with our adoption. I'll be honest I thought it was really nice of them, but really didn't want a TV because it cost me a least 30.00 to dispose of it. This person said that God told them to give it to us....again I still was unsure because a lot of people say "God told them....." but most of the time I'm not so sure they are hearing from God....ya know what I mean?
This person dropped of the TV and needed help bringing it in our house so of course I went out to help. When they open their car there is a 40" flat screen high definition Samsung TV.....in new condition!!!! I'm like WHAT???? I was like are you sure you want to give this to us because you could sell this yourself and make some money! They said NO! They told me that they hadn't had a peace about this TV from the moment it was purchased and that they didn't know what to do with it, but once God told them to give it to us they had an overwhelming peace! I was like OK and gave them a HUGE hug and helped them bring it in the house. I had no idea what to ask for it! They told me they had purchased it for 1300.00 and it retailed for 1500.00 or more. They thought we could get 700.00 or 800.00 for it! Keep in mind I didn't tell them what we needed for fingerprints up to that point. After they said that price I began to share about our adoption journey up to this point and said we needed 700.00 so they said they would pray that we would get what we needed.
There was no way I was taking this to the yard sale! I didn't want it in the elements so Mike set it up (which took forever! He's not into electronics so it took longer to get it up and going) because we planned to advertise it on craigslist or facebook and we wanted people to be able to come over and see it. So by 9 or 10ish at night we had it up and running!
Saturday morning I was up early and out the door to have our yard sale! I didn't make a sign for the TV....nothing! My plan was to try to begin selling it on Monday.
I'd say somewhere around noon maybe a gal came to the yard sale and we were just visiting. It happened to be a sister in the Lord. I have no idea why but I just said to her something like....."I don't know why i'm telling you this but I have a TV for sale....." I began to share with her story of how we got it. I told her we were going to try to sell it for 800.00. She just looks at me with a half puzzled look and begins to tell me that she and her husband have never purchased a TV for their home. I guess they have a small one in their bedroom but they don't have for the family and don't get any channels beside WLBZ 2 . She said that they had been talking for a while about getting on and that yesterday (Friday night) her husband told her to go buy a TV! She said they had been saving money but only had 500.00 and asked if I would sell it for that. As much as I wanted to say yes I told her that because it hadn't even been 24 hours and without Mike being there I couldn't go any lower than 700.00. I told her I could get her info and I could try to sell in for a couple of weeks and see if we could get 7 or 8 hundred and if we didn't I'd call her and sell it for 500.00.
Someone else needed to pay me for something so I excused myself and when I turned around she was writing a check. She said she tried to call her husband but he didn't answer so she was going to make an executive decision and buy the TV for 700.00!! I was speechless and about fell over! We jumped in her van and drove to my house picked the TV up and she dropped me off at the yard sale.
So this morning I'll make a deposit and we'll have 1239.00!! 400.00 for our home study and 830.00 for our fingerprints!!!! with 9.00 towards our 9200.00! Actually at the end of the yard sale we each made about 250.00 and I sold a couple extra things for 200.00 so we have 459ish towards our 9200.00 we will need in about 4-5 weeks! That money will be the only thing standing in the way of sending our dossier to Nepal! That 700.00 we needed seemed as impossible as this 8750.00 we will now need!
We will begin today to pray the Lord provides the 8750.00 needed! And I believe He will!
I will continue to pray about what I can sell in order to help bring our son or sons home! All weekend I've had a verse in my head....Matt. 19:21 When Jesus tells us to go and sell all our possessions and give the money to the poor. I'm willing to sell my stuff in order to help bring (who right now is a poor orphan(s)...but will be our son(s)) home!
We still have an ocean kayak we would love to sell! Anyone want to buy it for 8750.00? LOL...just kidding we are asking 700.00.
One more thought. I am so thankful that this person was able to hear the Lord speak to them and that they were obedient. It just blows my mind! It would have been so easy to dismiss a thought like giving away a TV and sell it themselves or just keep it. I pray that I'll be sensitive and hear when the Lord speaks to me and that I will do as he says! I pray the Lord blesses this person just as He had blessed us!
As many of you know Mike and I are about finished with our dossier! Praise the Lord! As we have been paper chasing we have been seeking the Lord to provide the money needed for this adoption. The Lord has provided every penny we've needed and we've had it right on time without having to wait to move forward on anything! On Thursday we heard from our home study provider and FHSA that everything looked good and we should have our home study in hand early next week. We were thrilled to have that piece done and now only had our I171H left to do/get!
In our adoption account we have 539.00. We will need to pay for our home study this week which will cost 400.00 leaving us with 139.00 and we need 700.00 to move forward. Mike and I were talking Thursday about how the Lord has provided the $ on time with each step so far but knowing that we had NO resources to pull from and so we were just going to have to wait and trust the Lord that He would provide the money when it was His time for us to move forward.
On Thursday I posted on my facebook that I was going to have one more yard sale on Friday and Saturday. I was praying that we could maybe raise the much needed 700.00. The only thing different from this yard sale then the ones I've done this year is I was doing it with two girlfriends from church who are also adopting. So we were going to split the money three ways. I knew it was unlikely that we'd raise that much money because we didn't have that much for the sale. I mean this was my 4th yard sale this year! I'm running out of things to sell!!
On Thursday, Sept 17 at 8:00pm I got a message from someone (that I didn't really know) telling me they had a TV they wanted to give us to help with our adoption. I'll be honest I thought it was really nice of them, but really didn't want a TV because it cost me a least 30.00 to dispose of it. This person said that God told them to give it to us....again I still was unsure because a lot of people say "God told them....." but most of the time I'm not so sure they are hearing from God....ya know what I mean?
This person dropped of the TV and needed help bringing it in our house so of course I went out to help. When they open their car there is a 40" flat screen high definition Samsung TV.....in new condition!!!! I'm like WHAT???? I was like are you sure you want to give this to us because you could sell this yourself and make some money! They said NO! They told me that they hadn't had a peace about this TV from the moment it was purchased and that they didn't know what to do with it, but once God told them to give it to us they had an overwhelming peace! I was like OK and gave them a HUGE hug and helped them bring it in the house. I had no idea what to ask for it! They told me they had purchased it for 1300.00 and it retailed for 1500.00 or more. They thought we could get 700.00 or 800.00 for it! Keep in mind I didn't tell them what we needed for fingerprints up to that point. After they said that price I began to share about our adoption journey up to this point and said we needed 700.00 so they said they would pray that we would get what we needed.
There was no way I was taking this to the yard sale! I didn't want it in the elements so Mike set it up (which took forever! He's not into electronics so it took longer to get it up and going) because we planned to advertise it on craigslist or facebook and we wanted people to be able to come over and see it. So by 9 or 10ish at night we had it up and running!
Saturday morning I was up early and out the door to have our yard sale! I didn't make a sign for the TV....nothing! My plan was to try to begin selling it on Monday.
I'd say somewhere around noon maybe a gal came to the yard sale and we were just visiting. It happened to be a sister in the Lord. I have no idea why but I just said to her something like....."I don't know why i'm telling you this but I have a TV for sale....." I began to share with her story of how we got it. I told her we were going to try to sell it for 800.00. She just looks at me with a half puzzled look and begins to tell me that she and her husband have never purchased a TV for their home. I guess they have a small one in their bedroom but they don't have for the family and don't get any channels beside WLBZ 2 . She said that they had been talking for a while about getting on and that yesterday (Friday night) her husband told her to go buy a TV! She said they had been saving money but only had 500.00 and asked if I would sell it for that. As much as I wanted to say yes I told her that because it hadn't even been 24 hours and without Mike being there I couldn't go any lower than 700.00. I told her I could get her info and I could try to sell in for a couple of weeks and see if we could get 7 or 8 hundred and if we didn't I'd call her and sell it for 500.00.
Someone else needed to pay me for something so I excused myself and when I turned around she was writing a check. She said she tried to call her husband but he didn't answer so she was going to make an executive decision and buy the TV for 700.00!! I was speechless and about fell over! We jumped in her van and drove to my house picked the TV up and she dropped me off at the yard sale.
So this morning I'll make a deposit and we'll have 1239.00!! 400.00 for our home study and 830.00 for our fingerprints!!!! with 9.00 towards our 9200.00! Actually at the end of the yard sale we each made about 250.00 and I sold a couple extra things for 200.00 so we have 459ish towards our 9200.00 we will need in about 4-5 weeks! That money will be the only thing standing in the way of sending our dossier to Nepal! That 700.00 we needed seemed as impossible as this 8750.00 we will now need!
We will begin today to pray the Lord provides the 8750.00 needed! And I believe He will!
I will continue to pray about what I can sell in order to help bring our son or sons home! All weekend I've had a verse in my head....Matt. 19:21 When Jesus tells us to go and sell all our possessions and give the money to the poor. I'm willing to sell my stuff in order to help bring (who right now is a poor orphan(s)...but will be our son(s)) home!
We still have an ocean kayak we would love to sell! Anyone want to buy it for 8750.00? LOL...just kidding we are asking 700.00.
One more thought. I am so thankful that this person was able to hear the Lord speak to them and that they were obedient. It just blows my mind! It would have been so easy to dismiss a thought like giving away a TV and sell it themselves or just keep it. I pray that I'll be sensitive and hear when the Lord speaks to me and that I will do as he says! I pray the Lord blesses this person just as He had blessed us!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Dossier Packet!
Today we got our dossier packet in the mail! Just read it all over and it looks pretty straight forward and easy. The Lord has provided what we have needed for funds up to this point. Now that we're ready to "RUN" with collecting our documents it will be neat to see how He is going to provide the rest of the money needed to submit it to Nepal!
Praying for a little over 10 thousand! That is a TON of money but WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE! Hey this adoption was totally His plan so we know He will provide this next portion!
We'll keep you posted! We had a yard sale a few weeks ago and raised another 985.21!! We are having another yard sale this weekend...praying for a miracle!
Praying for a little over 10 thousand! That is a TON of money but WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE! Hey this adoption was totally His plan so we know He will provide this next portion!
We'll keep you posted! We had a yard sale a few weeks ago and raised another 985.21!! We are having another yard sale this weekend...praying for a miracle!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Changes...Take 2
It seems like lots have been going on concerning the adoption. We thought we had found and settled on who we were suppose to use as our adoption/placing agency ( Adoption Associates). But things have changed AGAIN thank to my sweet friend Amy W. who introduced me to Elissa another AWAA mom.
Anyone who's adopted or is even interested in adoption always asks the same first questions....what agency are you using? How far along in the process are you? Healthy or SN? This is how our first conversation went. I shared my facts with her and she shared hers with me. She told me that they had considered Adoption Associates but chose FHSA for a few reasons. When I heard her reasons it was if I was talking about our family. She told me she has just signed on a couple weeks ago and that they had an opening for a healthy child. If you're not familiar with Nepal they just re-opened their doors for adoption last October and they are only allowing ten dossiers per agency per year. Every agecny I spoke with had filled their quota for this year and next year. So to find an opening was totally the Lord!
When Ellisa told me they found an opening for THIS YEAR I about fell over! I thought I had found and called every agency out there that worked in Nepal. Needless to say I didn't sleep well that night. All I could think about was....is there another opening for 2009? The next morning at 9 I called and spoke with Karen R. and she said that there were actually three openings! Again I about fell over! Anyway long story short (kind of) I loved speaking with all the ladies at FHSA. Every single one of them was so friendly and helpful. Mike and I prayed and decided we would see if CHCS our home study agency and FHSA could work together. Remember it took a few months to find out if we could work with AAI.... well it's only been about two weeks and we got the phone call today saying we're all set to move forward!
I am amazed that it all happened so fast! Stephanie told me that the contracts were being drawn up as we were spoke and I should get them in my hands on Thursday! Once I get them we'll set an appointment for our one and only home study visit. Also next week I'll be mailing in our payments (Lord willing) and beginning the collection of our dossier documents!
It's been almost 6 months since we said Yes Lord we will go to Nepal. I'm praying if it's the Lords will that it won't take long to pull our dossier together. It would be the neatest thing if the Lord allowed us the privilege to travel to Nepal with Ellisa and her husband to bring home our baby boys!
Anyone who's adopted or is even interested in adoption always asks the same first questions....what agency are you using? How far along in the process are you? Healthy or SN? This is how our first conversation went. I shared my facts with her and she shared hers with me. She told me that they had considered Adoption Associates but chose FHSA for a few reasons. When I heard her reasons it was if I was talking about our family. She told me she has just signed on a couple weeks ago and that they had an opening for a healthy child. If you're not familiar with Nepal they just re-opened their doors for adoption last October and they are only allowing ten dossiers per agency per year. Every agecny I spoke with had filled their quota for this year and next year. So to find an opening was totally the Lord!
When Ellisa told me they found an opening for THIS YEAR I about fell over! I thought I had found and called every agency out there that worked in Nepal. Needless to say I didn't sleep well that night. All I could think about was....is there another opening for 2009? The next morning at 9 I called and spoke with Karen R. and she said that there were actually three openings! Again I about fell over! Anyway long story short (kind of) I loved speaking with all the ladies at FHSA. Every single one of them was so friendly and helpful. Mike and I prayed and decided we would see if CHCS our home study agency and FHSA could work together. Remember it took a few months to find out if we could work with AAI.... well it's only been about two weeks and we got the phone call today saying we're all set to move forward!
I am amazed that it all happened so fast! Stephanie told me that the contracts were being drawn up as we were spoke and I should get them in my hands on Thursday! Once I get them we'll set an appointment for our one and only home study visit. Also next week I'll be mailing in our payments (Lord willing) and beginning the collection of our dossier documents!
It's been almost 6 months since we said Yes Lord we will go to Nepal. I'm praying if it's the Lords will that it won't take long to pull our dossier together. It would be the neatest thing if the Lord allowed us the privilege to travel to Nepal with Ellisa and her husband to bring home our baby boys!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Agreement For Service
Today when we got home from hiking, the Owl, in our pile of mail was our contract from CHCS! We shall sign it and get it in the mail Monday morning! Things seem to be moving! Praise the Lord!!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Official Step One!
Finally something to report! We recieved an email yesterday from Stephanie from CHCS (our home study agency) letting us know things look good and we're moving forward!
Hi Tonya,
Yes, I do have an update. It looks like we finally have everything in place and are moving forward. The contracts are being finalized and will be mailed out to Adoption Associates and to you and Mike. Once signatures are in place, we can set a time to meet. I am looking at a four hour block of time. After that I believe any questions I have (if any) could either be e-mailed or discussed on the phone. Should be a very straightforward process as the length of the report they want is so short.
Stephanie
I contacted AAI and spoke with Suzanne this afternoon. She told me to fill out the International Preliminary Adoption Application and email it to her. DONE!
She sent us some stuff we need to read over and sign. WE'LL DO THAT TONIGHT!
Next step will be to mail our first program fee and within a week we'll be assigned a consultant (FC).
We are very excited to be started the paperwork to bring Jonah home!!!
Hi Tonya,
Yes, I do have an update. It looks like we finally have everything in place and are moving forward. The contracts are being finalized and will be mailed out to Adoption Associates and to you and Mike. Once signatures are in place, we can set a time to meet. I am looking at a four hour block of time. After that I believe any questions I have (if any) could either be e-mailed or discussed on the phone. Should be a very straightforward process as the length of the report they want is so short.
Stephanie
I contacted AAI and spoke with Suzanne this afternoon. She told me to fill out the International Preliminary Adoption Application and email it to her. DONE!
She sent us some stuff we need to read over and sign. WE'LL DO THAT TONIGHT!
Next step will be to mail our first program fee and within a week we'll be assigned a consultant (FC).
We are very excited to be started the paperwork to bring Jonah home!!!
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