God is moving....

Last week our friends had plans to meet with the Associate Pastor and share our Adoption Ministry proposal. Earlier in the week before they met, a man from our church approached the AP sharing his concern that our church doesn't have an Orphan Ministry. *insert chills here* Now is that a sign of God working in the hearts of his people or what?! We also know that he and his wife are interested in being on the leadership team for this ministry as well. Praise the Lord!  The past few weeks our pastor has been preaching on difficult topics in our world today, and what the Bible says about these issues. Ironically, abortion was the topic this past Sunday. And how there are other options.  My how the Lord works in mysterious ways.  Can't wait to see how He works this ministry.

On another note, our puzzle is growing thanks to some sweet friends and family for giving so sacrificially. My favorite was the friend who was dying to see how the puzzle had grown, and if he got a piece of Natalie's face! =) I love that we were able to complete the word 'Blessings' at the bottom all at one time. So cool!   Here we go.....

Another fun tidbit: Our profile is now live on the Generations website! Click here: http://generationsadoptions.org/families.htm

So.............now what?

Now that all the hype about getting approved is over the most frequently asked questions are:

1. Now what?          and

2. Have you heard anything?

 

So to answer your question........ now we wait. It's as simple and as difficult as that. We wait. We wait on a birth mother to choose us. We wait to hear that ONE PHONE CALL that changes our lives forever.  We wait on God. This means we could wait a month or a year or anything in between. We just don't know.  I will tell you that we know of a few birth moms due at the end of the year, but it just might not be our birth mom.

 

For the second answer.......no. =)  Trust me folks. If I hear something, you will hear something!  I do appreciate the interest and questions so please don't stop with all of that. However if your question is one of these, you won't get an exciting answer.

 

We have had a few more generous donations made in the past week so look forward to seeing more of the puzzle coming together. We have been so humbled already by our friends and family helping us out. It is really neat that at the same time people are blessing us with donations, the Lord is blessing the donor! Many tears of joy and thankfulness have already been cried over each and every donation.

 

Staying Busy

With all these hot days I have been trying to get creative in what Natalie and I can do to stay busy and sane! I also want to make sure we are doing some sort of structured learning time each day. In the next couple of weeks I want to really structure our days better with specific learning times and goals. I may even right up a lesson plan, folks!  But here is what we have done so far....

Activity number 1:



BEADS!

Thanks to me being a Kindergarten teacher, I had this box of randomness that I have saved for who knows how long, and it finally came in handy. Natalie has pretty good fine motor skills, but I thought this was a great way to help refine those skills. She loved it! All these bright colors and options for maing a necklace was great. This also gave us a great time to talk about colors. This is something she just really has not picked up on very quickly. She knows orange, which to a die hard RAZORBACK fan makes me a little crazy=)

Every other color she is all over the place.

*Now let me just insert this. I do realize she is not even 2 yet so technically the fact that she knows 1 color is great! I'm not stressing or pressuring her to know more. However, she picks up on stuff very quickly so the fact that we talk about colors A LOT and she still only knows orange is strange to me.*

So here she is really concentrating on her bead work!  She did pretty well. After awhile she would get frustrated and toss it me saying, "mommy's turn!"

Activity number 2:

RICE and BEADS!

Again, another great fine motor skill activity where we can also work on.....colors!

Do you like my little tennis player?!

She truly loves playing in the rice; scooping, pouring, digging, dumping, etc. Great activity!

Activity number 3:

FOOD COLORING, OIL, WATER

Now this activity I can't take any credit for so hop on over to Play At Home Mom to check out all the amazing ideas for kiddos.

This activity didn't take long but we were entertained nonetheless=)

and finally,

Activity number 4:

READING (this one happens every day, multiple times a day)

But I added this picture because she created this little reading area herself. Too cute! This girl loves her books.

The End

It's Official.................Big Reveal!

We received an email yesterday letting us know we are officially approved! We are now considered a 'waiting family.' That also means we received our first large bill of $3500! And that brings me to my next point...................the big reveal!

Over the past week we have had several donations come in, allowing YOU to see a big chunk of our puzzle!  We are so thankful for the timing of these donations since we just received the aforementioned bill. The Lord is good, and his timing is perfect!

I also forgot to give a huge shout-out and thank you to my friend, Sherri Chuang for helping me take Maria's shots and put them together in this collage, forming our puzzle. Creative Memories is the way to go, folks!
Now, don't you want to see the rest?!?! Our next big payment could come as early as next month or as late as next year so we have to be prepared. Share with your friends! For Fundraiser information click HERE.

8 pieces and more details

Ok so I promise I won't post every single time another piece or three is added but these first few pieces are so exciting! It also made me think that you might be wondering a little more about the payment breakdowns I shared in an earlier post.  I know that was one of the questions Brian and I initially wondered about when we began the first time around. I see the breakdown, but how much time passes between each chunk of money? So I shall explain....

pre-app $100

formal app $300 (usually a month or two after the pre-app is approved)

home study $1000 (approx. 1-3 months depending on scheduling)

approval fee $4500 (approx. 2-4 weeks after the home study. This is because they have a LOT of paperwork to process after the home study!)

match fee $5500 (This is where the biggest or smallest chunk of time could pass. The match fee only happens after you have been chosen by a birth mom. The average wait time is around a year, but could be more. At our agency the longest a family has waited was 3 years, and the shortest that I am aware of is 1 month!)

placement fee $6000 (For us, we had a little bit more time between paying our match fee and our placement fee because our birthmom was not as far along in the pregnancy as what they normally are when matched. Typically they don't let a birthmom choose until they are into their last trimester. This can vary between 1-3 months between match and placement).

As you can see, it is a little bit more manageable than placing approx. $18,000 in the agency's hands all at one time. However, when you never know exactly when that moment comes that you are 'chosen' we have to be prepared to pay at any time!

Preview

I thought you all might need a little preview of this precious puzzle that will come together for our fundraiser! It doesn't get more precious than that, folks.

I wanted to make sure that I gave two huge shout-outs to friends that helped pull this picture off for our fundraiser.  First, Maria Holland, a fellow adoptive family friend.  She was gracious enough to grab some sweet shots whilst it was raining. Go on over to Holland Creations Photography, www.hollandcreations.com, to check out her work. Thanks again, Maria! Second, my friend and fellow teacher turned stay-at-home mom, Ashley Crews. She provided mine and Natalie's attire for the shot and it was beautiful! Go on over to FaceBook and check out Paisley Park's page for some fun new outfits and gifts. Thank you, Ashley!

**************drum roll please***************

We have our first 5 pieces of the puzzle put together! This is so exciting! So if you want to see Maria's wonderful photography, and Ashley's amazing outfits, let's get more pieces to this puzzle!

Thank you for your donation=)

Adoption Fundraiser Part 2

There are two questions that we are asked most frequently about adoption:

1. Why is adoption so expensive?
     Please keep in mind when answering this question I can only speak for the one small agency we have worked with so far. Costs can vary widely from one agency to the next, but many areas are the same.  Our agency has a fixed cost for all families, regardless of our income.  Here's a general breakdown of our expenses:

advertising
birth mom expenses  (Some birth moms require more help and resources than others, so they take an average)
training classes
application fees
home study fees
legal fees
case worker travel (gas & food)
salaries
office misc.

Generations has a huge fundraising event every fall called the Hope Gala. This event is the only fundraising they do each year, and it is the main source of funding.  Their goal is to keep cost down for families, so this event is extremely important!

2. How is the funding broken down?
    Again, I am speaking only for our agency.  This is how the fees are spread out:

pre application: $100
formal application: $300
home study: this varies depending on distance of travel but approx. $1000
approval fee: $4500
match fee: $5500
placement fee: $6000

3. I would like to support your adoption, but what is the easiest way to give?
    You can choose one of two ways to give. The first way is simply to write a check and send it to my home address. If you choose this option, leave your email address in the comment section and I will email you my home address. OR you can send me a message on FaceBook with your email adn I will get back to you.  The second way is through paypal if you already have an account.  Log in to your paypal account. Click on the second tab labeled 'Send Money.'  Type in MY email address (razorback4life04@hotmail.com) and the amount you are going to give.  Then click on the 'Personal' tab and click 'gift'.  This step is very important so that neither of us gets charged for this transaction.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, pray for us as we wait, and for giving.

Adoption Fundraiser Part 1

Here we go again! Three years ago we began the process of adoption to bring home our sweet little Natalie Jade.  We have been so blessed the past two years with her and we can’t imagine a single day without her in our lives!  And now we are ready to expand our family and bring home another precious baby; a sibling for Natalie.

With our first adoption Brian and I were blessed to have wonderful jobs and some sweet friends and family members to help offset the cost of adoption.  The Lord provided so we weren’t in debt nor did we have to worry about taking out a loan.  For that, we are grateful!

For those of you who don’t know, at the end of the 2011-2012 school year I resigned my position as a classroom teacher in order to be home with Natalie and to prepare to bring home our next child.  This is a decision I never thought I would make, but I am more than excited about it!  I felt like the Lord was telling me it was time to take care of my family.

We are working again with Generations Adoptions Agency out of Waco, Texas. The ladies who work here are incredible at what they do to support both birth families and adoptive families.  More importantly is their love for the Lord and how He works in the lives of families.  We have been blessed beyond belief with this agency.  Generations, as we have found, is not only the best agency but the most cost effective one.  With that being said, there is still a considerable cost associated with adoption.

Piecing together puzzles can be tedious, time consuming, frustrating, overwhelming, and joyful all at the same time.  But the finished product always makes you smile; mostly because of the effort it took to complete the puzzle!  The same goes for adoption.  “God has ordained this waiting period for us, however long, tedious and overwhelming it may be.”

If you feel called, here’s where you can help.  We have created a special puzzle to remember this time of waiting for our family.  We are asking that you help us piece together the puzzle in support of our adoption. For each piece we are asking you to donate $10, and we will write your name (or your family’s name) on the back. Once the puzzle is complete, we will frame it and hang it in the nursery to be a reminder of all those that donated and prayed for us in helping bring our baby home.

If you do not feel called to give, here’s how we would like you to pray for us.

1.       That our birth mom will be surrounded by friends and family that will encourage her to choose adoption, not abortion.

2.       That our birth mom will make wise choices for her body as she carries the baby

3.       That we will grow to have a relationship with our birth mom

4.       A safe delivery for both birth mom and baby

5.       A healthy baby

Thank you for loving and supporting our family during this time as we grow our family God’s way!

Brian, Whitney, and Natalie

**I will periodically post updates as our puzzle grows!

4 Generations: a picture I always wanted.

Thank you, Lord.