Waiting....

So we are just waiting for a referral now.  We have completed our dossier and just sitting around, waiting to get that phone call and email with our daughter's information and picture! The referral could happen soon or it could be a few months down the line.  It is just a waiting game from here.  Only God knows the timing and we wait patiently for His perfect timing.

Major Update! New country!

Wow!  So much has changed since my last post!  We picked back up the adoption in March and are completed with our homestudy and almost complete with our dossier!  Kind of a long story, but we have changed countries from Ethiopia to the Democratic of Congo.  We are still requesting a 3-7 yr special needs little girl but now that we are adopting from DRC, the adoption apparently will go much faster, we are told!  We were given a quote of 6-9 months from now that we will be able to travel to pick up our daughter!  It is so surreal!  It is finally happening.  We are officially on the referral waiting list, meaning we can receive a picture of our daughter any day now....could be today....could be 5 months down the line.  However, we are told it will be quick :)  With this shorter timeframe, we are also needing money quicker.  So far, our funding for the adoption has come out of our own pocket of savings but it has proven difficult these past few months to save money with an unplanned commute of 90 miles for my husband daily.  That is another story in itself.  So we are now racking our brains and trying to come up with fundraising ideas to help us to do what God has lead for our family, and try to do so without going into debt.  I'll be listing upcoming fundraisers soon!  Please continue to pray for this whole adoption process.  We are all excited, anxious, and trusting God to provide financially.  

Changes with the adoption timeline....

Wow, it has been a long time for an update. So here is the update.....we completed the homestudy and everything went well. We got our passports in the mail. I had many issues with mine and had to send back extra paperwork including records from my hospital where I was born and news articles about my mom's death and such. However, it finally was accepted!!!

So the big news is this.....we are taking a pause in the adoption and starting back up in Jan/Feb 2012. We decided this for 2 reasons....One, because we feel it would be less stressful to just wait until we are at our final duty station to get more into the adoption process as it is harder with the moving this year. And, second, we are expecting again! My husband has been home for 3 months now and I'm about 11 weeks pregnant! We weren't planning this because of the adoption but we are excited and blessed anyhow! The baby is due December 29th so we will wait until after the baby is born to pick back up. We can pick back up quickly after the baby is born b/c we aren't requesting a baby so the age gap won't be a big deal. So our new timeline for bringing home our sweet Ethiopian daughter should be sometime in 2013. It seems so long to wait, but God is in control and will work it all out! In the meantime, we will continue to try to raise funds for the adoption with our first big thing being a garage sale next weekend. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Social Worker Visit

I have been so busy lately with the hubby finally home after his long deployment that I haven't been blogging. So here is an update: This past week we had our first visit with our social worker to work on our homestudy. She didn't need to look around the house at all since we are moving, as that will be done later in our final place. She was very nice and the visit went well. She complimented us on how well behaved and patient the kids were :) She will be back this week and a few more times to finish it all up.

A small hiccup has been getting my passport. Apparently my birth certificate was filed late and they won't accept it in order to get my passport. I now have to contact my hospital of birth and old elementary schools to track down records of my birth. Considering that this is all in PA and I am far from there, this should be interesting. I guess my birth certificate was never filed my my mom and dad originally. My aunt and uncle (whom I call my parents, since they raised me) filed it as I was entering school. It is frustrating but hopefully I can get it all worked out soon.

That is about it. As for fundraising goes, we are not sure how to go about that since we are moving and will be living temporarily in VA for a few months and move again. Hoping to come up with an idea on that one to help out financially.

Our first fundraiser outcome

I held a Mary Kay party to help my friend jumpstart her business and also to earn money for our adoption. I didn't want any products as a hostess so she is just giving me what I would've earned in product...as cash :) I'm happy to report that we made about $40 in profit to go towards bringing Selah home! I'm hoping to do more fundraising to raise these funds considering that this is not a cheap route. We've already dumped about $3,000 into the adoption, and that has been the past 2 weeks! It can be a little worrisome not knowing where all the money will come from as it is due, but I take comfort in believing that God will provide as this is His calling for us....we are His servants, obeying Him to do His will. And what a precious calling it is to love one of the least of these children as our own!!

Fingerprints and Passport filed!

So I got my fingerprints and passport filed for our homestudy. Frank will have to get his done immediately when he returns from Afghanistan. Apparently these two forms take the longest to process. I'm still hoping that it will come back quickly for Frank as he will return the beginning of March and we are moving the middle of June. We need to have our homestudy completed by then! I'm sure it will fall into place, but it can be nerve racking nevertheless.

Just Love Coffee--fundraiser!

We have now set up a "store front" to sell coffee as a fundraiser for our adoption through Just Love Coffee. Let me tell you a little about Just Love Coffee Roasters. The owner, Rob Webb is in the family business of roasting coffee. When he and his wife adopted from Ethiopia, he developed a vision for using his expertise to help others. Since all of their coffee is fair trade, the poor farmers all over the world are helped by his business. A portion of all of their proceeds goes to help orphans in Ethiopia. And they offer fundraising opportunities for adopting families, like us. So if people make purchases from our “store” on their website, we get a large portion of the proceeds–mailed directly to us monthly. Talk about a wonderful company!! We think it’s so fitting, too, to raise funds this way for our Ethiopian adoption since Ethiopia is the birthplace for coffee and a huge part of their culture.

Please take a moment to check out our "store" website and consider supporting our family and this amazing company. Pretty awesome to drink great coffee (or give it as a gift for the non-coffee drinkers out there!) and help bring an orphan home at the same time! http://www.justlovecoffee.com/carrfamilyadoption