Room's Ready

O.k.  So I know that this is a bit premature, but I decided to go ahead and get the guest room turned into the boys' room.  My eldest son used to have a western cowboy room.  I hung the cowboy curtains, got out the plaid quilt, hung the metal star, put all the board books on the red bookshelf and tried to imagine our cutie twins sitting in the chambray arm chair reading Pat the Bunny.  Wearing cowboy boots, of course.

10 Sent In

Tomorrow I put in the mail the last of the bulky envelopes filled with papers that were poured over for hours to request adoption grants.  Although the process and information requested for each organization is similar, they are all very different and all very time consuming. 

I have applied for 10.  Ten organizations that exist to come alongside of families and give financial aid and support for the large expense of adoption.  Ten organizations who probably can only give to 20% of the applications they receive.

They were mailed with many prayers and a verse repeated round in my head.

Psalm 50:10  For every beast of the forest is Mine, 

and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

My God has no shortage of funds.

Happies

Going through this adoption process has made us the recipient of many little "happies" from God.

I love the way He led us to our agency.

I love the way He led us to our country.

I love the way He led us to our boys.

I love the way that the most unexpected people have come along our path to encourage and support us because they have a heart for adoption too.

I love the way that my passion for orphans has exploded through this process and how I will never be the same.

I love how our boys have been living in a foster home with 2 other little boys their age and one of them has arrived in his forever family last week - and lives 20 minutes away from us.

I love how God crossed my paths with a girl who grew up as a missionary kid in our country, speaks the language, knows the culture and even has recorded worship music in that language for us to learn now and who is willing to share the culture with me.  We met 2 days after we got our referral.  What a sweet God-Happy.   (So if you pass a 12 passenger van that is rocking and booming with native-sounding drums and worship music sung in Lingala with 8 blond haired, blue eyed kids singing and dancing....that would be us!)

I am embarrassed to tell you that last year this time if you had asked me about our country, I could not have shown it to you on the map and probably the only thing I might have commented on was that Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine released a song about a dance that sounds like our country name.  Shameful, I know.

But as I started learning, the more I wanted to learn.  I am in the process of writing a paper for our agency to educate myself and to have for our boys and family to read about our country.  It's taking me forever to finish because I can't stop researching and I can't stop writing.  (I pity the girl who has to read it from our agency - hope she's got a few hours.)  And with each new story, fact and statistic that I read, my heart becomes stronger and stronger drawn to that country.  My heart feels a greater bond for our boys because I am learning about a piece of who they are.

This knowledge is also piercing as the history of this country can bring you to tears.  And with knowledge comes responsibility.  Responsibility to bring about greater awareness of the opportunities for adoption.  Responsibility to pray for peace, strong leadership, and stability in this country.

And what is amazing is that in the midst of my learning, sharing and writing, the word is spreading.  People are becoming aware that it's not a Miami Sound Machine song but a country in Africa with many orphans needing families.  God is stirring the hearts of His people to act now in caring for the orphans. 

Last year when I was "interviewing" adoptive parents to research the possibility for my family, one friend and mom listened to my questions, answered them politely and said very frankly yet lovingly, "Cassie, just get the ball rolling.  God will show you what do to, but you just have to get the ball rolling."  She was right.  No more excuses.  No more procrastinating.  There's no better time than now.

He had placed it in our hearts.  He had stirred it up more.  He was ready for us to get the ball rolling and He showed us.  He continues to show us.  He's multiplying His plan also because as of today, 3 other families who have asked us about our agency and our country, have signed up to adopt themselves.  It's not because of us and anything I have said.  It's because God is working and stirring hearts to bring His children across the ocean to His families here in America - to be forever families.

It's a beautiful web He's weaving.

Fank You

Lydia's prayer (age 3 1/2)

Dear Jesus,

Fank You dat day can come to our house

cuz we don't have enough bruvvers.

(translation)

Dear Jesus,

Thank you that they can come to our house

because we don't have enough brothers. 

And all the Fish boys said?????

"AMEN!"

Little guys, we sure can't wait to add you to our family!

Sisters and Bruvvers alike!

Week in Review

This week was spent filling out applications for adoption grants.  My goal is to apply for 10 and then just wait.  They are very extensive but most of them ask for the same information, just individual forms.  I think I used a ream of paper and a cartridge of ink, but we only have 2 more to finish up.

We got our 3rd set of photos of the boys and were so glad to see a couple pictures of them smiling.  We saw them standing next to others which gave us a better idea of how big they are.  We get more and more attached to them and long to bring them home more with each new photo.

Saturday was a huge blessing to me.  A friend from church offered to host a Swap and Shop to Adopt.  I didn't realize until Saturday that this particular fundraising idea was an original idea of 2 sweet adoptive moms in my church.  They came up with the idea a few years ago to benefit the adoption of twin boys from Ethiopia.  It's an ingenious idea, in my opinion.  A host of ladies are invited.  Each one collects items around their house to donate (things you might put in a consignment sale, pass to a friend, give to Goodwill or for a garage sale).  All the donations are organized in categories and then each lady in attendance goes "shopping," collecting anything she would need or likes enough to take home.  In the end, each person makes a donation to benefit the adoption.  Everyone wins - everyone gets rid of things they don't need, everyone gets "new" things to bring home, and money is raised to help support adoptions.

I headed over to my friend's house early Saturday morning hauling a 12 passenger van full of goodies.  My sweet friend and neighbor donated as much as my van would hold from her recent move that required downsizing for her family.  I also had a few things left over from our garage sale and consignment sale.  We set up tables in her backyard and hanging racks in her garage.  We labeled tables with signs for clothing, household, toys, books/media, etc.  We sorted what we had and as friends arrived, they sorted their donations also.  We came inside for snacks and I shared with these sweet girls our "adoption testimony" and then they prayed for us.  Then we all went outside to collect what we would like to take home - baby equipment, curtains, home decor, shoes, movies, all kinds of great things.  As each friend left, they left a donation.

What blessed me so much is that most of these girls didn't know we very well and a couple of these girls didn't know me at all.  This was not a gathering of my closest friends.  As I scanned the room, I saw girls with whom I had never visited with for very long.  What blessed me so much was their passion for adoptions and their willingness to bless us and give.  We raised $650 with just a handful of people at the fundraiser.  I was blessed beyond measure.  The 2 girls who hosted for me blessed me so much.  One of them I just met within the last couple of months.  The other I have known for a while through church but we have not gotten together outside of church events. They both have very small children and one of them is due with baby #3 in a few weeks,so their lives are busy.  It was such a labor of love that blessed me so much.

As we were boxing up the leftovers to donate to a thrift store, one girl offered to take everything home with her to host a garage sale the very next day to add to our funds.  This was one of the girls with whom I didn't know before Saturday.  I was shocked by her sacrificial offer.  

This adoption process has changed me in many ways.  Saturday I was taught through this small group of girls about giving.  Giving of time, giving of money, giving of support - even to those who are not in my "inner circle" of friends.  It was huge to me and I am extremely grateful.

What Now?

Many friends and family have asked for updates on our adoption process now that we have our little guys' photo.

After we received our referral, our agency began the legal paperwork and court process in our country for our adoption to be complete.  It usually takes 3-6 months to complete.  During this time, social services will investigate the boys' history and generate the Proof of Abandonment documents.  After the court process is complete in Africa, we will receive these important documents.  They say this waiting time is the hardest.

Ask Baby Fish over here in TN.  Almost everyday she prays for our "doption" as she calls it.  "Mama, when is our baby brudders coming from our doption?  It's taking a WONG time!"  Yes, it is taking a long time and it will take even longer, especially to a 3 year old who's concept of time is limited to tomorrow, yesterday and today.

We did receive a medical evaluation about the boys last week.  They are estimated now to be about 6 mths. younger than we were first told.  Their exam showed them to be in good health, for which we are very grateful.  We have their African names and for right now, we are calling them by those names.  We hope to keep those as middle names and add a Bible name and family name to the mix, just like the other Fish Sticks.  There is great discussion here about what those names should be.  We have lots of good ones in the running and the Fish Sticks seem to have very strong opinions about them.  Opinions are good as long as they result in peaceful decisions.  :)

And what are we up to while we wait?  Lots of things.  Finally we have been able to focus on fund raising.  There are so many good ideas out there and I seem to have been charging forward with several at once.  First, we started cleaning out and posting things on Craigslist and Ebay.  Second, we cleaned out the Fish Sticks' closets and boxes of clothes in the attic to sell surplus clothing at 2 different consignment sales.  I've never participated nor shopped at a consignment sale so this was all new to me.  My first attempt was o.k. - not great, as I came home with a van-load of unsold things.  My friends advised me to come down on my prices, which I gladly did.  You can pray for the 2nd sale which is this week.  I am contributing over 100 items and have low balled myself greatly in hopes to raise funds and clean out all at the same time.

As you saw from the last post, we also cleaned out and hosted a garage sale with our good friends, the Masons, who are also going through the adoption process.  The sale at their house went really well and I came home with the leftovers in an attempt to host another garage sale at our house the following weekend.  What happened was that I was confirmed over and over that hosting a garage sale in the boon docks is nothing but a waste of time.  After 2 days and over 10 hours, we had a handful of customers who must have vowed to not spend over $5 each.  Needless to say, Goodwill got a nice contribution from the Boon Docks Garage Sale and I promised My Man I would never waste my time in such a way again.  :)

A couple friends from church are doing an amazing service for our little guys in Africa by hosting a Swap and Shop to Help Adopt on September 22 in Nashville.  It's the neatest concept of fund raising.  You can read about how it works here.  Here's the evite with details if you want to come or post on facebook for me.  Basically you come and bring whatever from your home that you would like to swap or get rid of - clothing, home furnishings, electronics, baby equipment, toys, jewelry, etc. (all in good condition, of course).  You make a suggested donation of $20 to attend and then take home anything that you find that you would like to have - like shopping for free.  You can bring little and take home lots or bring lots and take home little. Or just come and see what it's all about.

And last, I have opened an etsy shop called Fish Sticks for Africa.  I am trying to sell several items:  custom made shirts with either a country or state or initials, denim sling bags, and reversible hand bags.  100% of the profit goes to our adoption. 

We are working on our education requirements for our agency right now also.  I'm working on writing an extensive term paper about our country (history, culture, etc.) and the adoption process, reading books about adoption, attending Skype conferences, taking quizzes and reading articles.  All good stuff.  There's so much we need to know and so much we are learning.  Filling out grant applications is also on my to-do list that I hope to start tackling this week.

So lots is going on.  Sorry you asked??  :)  Keep praying for us and our boys as we wait.

Come out and Have a Look

Hey Friends,

We have paired up with our good friends, who are also adopting internationally, for a fund raising garage sale.  So if you happen to live in the Nashville area, come by and see what we have.

The Craigslist listing is found here.  Thanks!

http://nashville.craigslist.org/gms/3224616599.html