I LIED.. My last post was not my last one for the year (that's the lie)!! :-) I have never been so happy to have to go back on something I said! We are ecstatic to to announce that we have been given a new referral of a little boy!! He is 4 years old, and is in the Ashanti region. We have an AMAZING POA in Ghana! I get to talk to him everyday, and he holds our adoption close to his heart, we are very blessed! So WHAT HAPPENS NOW?????
As you know we are doing this independent now. So the next thing we must do and ASAP is file our I-600a. That is where we will go to Louisville and do our biometric finger prints. That is the light at the end of the tunnel. From what i understand this is will take about 30 days to get the prints back. Once we get it back we compile everything into our dossier and send it to Ghana. We only need I-600a, Tony's and Bri's birth certificate for the dossier. I have already gathered all the other documents needed. Once we send him our dossier he will set a court date and appear in court for us. Then we will get an apt to come file our I-600.This will be our first trip and when we get to meet our sweet little boy :'-) Then hopefully about 6 weeks later we will get to travel back and bring him home with us :-) OH HAPPY DAY!! This is an extremely rough timeline and I know to expect bumps in the along the way, but we are very prayerful that this will happen soon and smoothly
The only thing that is preventing us from traveling to Ghana the first week of Febuary is money. Once we get the funds needed we will be traveling. It is going to move very fast. Since we are doing our adoption independent we can not apply for grants. (If you know of any that fund independent PLEASE LET ME KNOW!) So I will be thinking of way to earn money. Don't forget if you want to help bring our little man home we would love donations. SO how much is it going to cost now? It will cost us 7,500..... THAT'S IT!!! Of course that does not include travel. So including travel about 12,000. The impression I got from our POA is we will be traveling as soon as we get our prints back. Other ways you can help is by donating airline miles to us. So keep that in mind, airfare will be the majority of our travel cost. If you can donate airline miles that will be a huge, GIGANTIC BLESSING!!
Our God is an amazing awesome God!! I have no doubts or worries about funding this adoption. It may not happen as fast as I want but I know it will happen. Please pray for me to have patients and not get discouraged.We plan to use our tax money for the majority. Hopefully we will only have to fundraisers and earn about 6,000. I am very optimistic and I know it can be done. We have an awesome support system that can't wait to bring this little guy home.
PSALM 28:7 THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH AND MY SHIELD; IN HIM MY HEART TRUSTS, AND I AM HELPED; MY HEART EXULTS, AND WITH MY SONG I GIVE THANKS TO HIM
QUICK NOTE:
I have been asked: Are you going to tell Bri? Are you going to get attached before he gets here? I have been told DO NOT do either of the above, that we are setting our self up for heart break, b/c we COULD loose him too. MY RESPONSE: If you were my friend I would tell you the same thing! However it is IMPOSSIBLE! Attachment happens whether you want it to or not! Our family is growing and Bri knows. We are not getting her as involved yet. We are being more reserved with what we tell her, but she knows and has saw his picture. When you find out your pregnant you immediately start loving that child, and want to tell everyone as soon as soon as you find out. You wouldn't keep it to yourself b/c you might have a miscarriage....see what I am saying? God has a plan, who are we not to trust him? We are putting our hearts on the line, I feel like if we don't go all in we will miss out. Its not possible to work so hard and go across the world without falling in love. I wouldn't do these things for just any boy but I will move mountains to make this little boy our son and bring him home as soon as I possibly can! BE PREPARED I have my drive and passion back and I will do whatever it takes to get the money to bring my sweet little boy home! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND PRAYERS
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Let go and Let God
Well, as this year is coming fast to an end I thought I would give you guys one last update, although, not much has happened. As I said in the last blog we have decided to do our adoption independent now. That means I find a POA in Ghana that helps us find our son. I do all the paperwork, and lots of fundraising as I do not know of anyone who gives adoption grants to families doing independent. I have been talking to a few POA's one gave us a referral but didn't end up working out. So we are still waiting to find that special little boy to join our family. So if you are reading this and you know a POA or of a little boy 6 years old or younger in Ghana let us know. Our homestudy is complete and we plan to be able to file our I-600A soon that was when we find our little guy we will be ready for the next step :-)
We have said from the beginning God has had his hand on every step of this process, I still believe that this is true. Not long after we found our Noah he lead us to a family in Alabama who knew our Noah. They gave us pictures, told us stories, shared their memories, gave us comfort in knowing that he was being taken care of at his orphanage, and went all in with our adoption process and barely new us. If you have adopted you know how much these things mean and how they are truly a gift from the hands of God. I have no doubt this is why it was so easy for us to accept him as ours from the beginning and so tough for us to let go at the end! After we lost Noah's referral someone who they know, that helps Noah's orphanage out ALOT went to Ghana to check and see how things were going with all the projects they are doing over there. Of course while he was there he ask about Noah. He was able to find some things out for us. After discovering it was his aunt an uncle who him, he was able to find out where he is now living...HE WAS ABLE TO GO TO NOAHS HOME! The first time he went he was not home he had fallen at school and was at the Dr. (PRAISE GOD HE IS IN SCHOOL AND HIS FAMILY WAS ABLE TO TAKE HIM TO THE DR). when he went back a few days later he said that Noah was happy, clean, and was being taken care of. PRAISE GOD!! Another gift straight from the hands of God! I know of many families who have their referral and they are just left hanging with no answers. We are blessed beyond imagination to be able to find this out! When I read that I cried and cried and cried some more! This time it was a different cry, more like a happy cry, a cry of relief. It was as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. What a blessing....Thank you to the family and the man who found this information out and shared it with us. You will never EVER understand the peace you have brought to me. I can sleep at night now, I no longer have the urge to need more information, we are ready to move on <3
Bri still talks about Noah all the time, then she remembers hes not coming to be with us so we thank Jesus Noah found his family and pray for the little boy he is going to add to ours. If anything our process has to taught us to let go and let God do the work; he never fails us...EVER! I can't lie its difficult explaining to Bri why her mommy can't get a baby in her belly and why Jesus hasn't found her a brother yet either. My only explanation to her keep praying baby: just like you choose the perfect flowers to pick or the best vegetables out of our garden in summer Jesus
is waiting to choose the very best brother you! Now that I have complete peace with Noah, it will be easier to let go of my worldly troubles and let God continue with his perfect plan with our family!
We have said from the beginning God has had his hand on every step of this process, I still believe that this is true. Not long after we found our Noah he lead us to a family in Alabama who knew our Noah. They gave us pictures, told us stories, shared their memories, gave us comfort in knowing that he was being taken care of at his orphanage, and went all in with our adoption process and barely new us. If you have adopted you know how much these things mean and how they are truly a gift from the hands of God. I have no doubt this is why it was so easy for us to accept him as ours from the beginning and so tough for us to let go at the end! After we lost Noah's referral someone who they know, that helps Noah's orphanage out ALOT went to Ghana to check and see how things were going with all the projects they are doing over there. Of course while he was there he ask about Noah. He was able to find some things out for us. After discovering it was his aunt an uncle who him, he was able to find out where he is now living...HE WAS ABLE TO GO TO NOAHS HOME! The first time he went he was not home he had fallen at school and was at the Dr. (PRAISE GOD HE IS IN SCHOOL AND HIS FAMILY WAS ABLE TO TAKE HIM TO THE DR). when he went back a few days later he said that Noah was happy, clean, and was being taken care of. PRAISE GOD!! Another gift straight from the hands of God! I know of many families who have their referral and they are just left hanging with no answers. We are blessed beyond imagination to be able to find this out! When I read that I cried and cried and cried some more! This time it was a different cry, more like a happy cry, a cry of relief. It was as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. What a blessing....Thank you to the family and the man who found this information out and shared it with us. You will never EVER understand the peace you have brought to me. I can sleep at night now, I no longer have the urge to need more information, we are ready to move on <3
Bri still talks about Noah all the time, then she remembers hes not coming to be with us so we thank Jesus Noah found his family and pray for the little boy he is going to add to ours. If anything our process has to taught us to let go and let God do the work; he never fails us...EVER! I can't lie its difficult explaining to Bri why her mommy can't get a baby in her belly and why Jesus hasn't found her a brother yet either. My only explanation to her keep praying baby: just like you choose the perfect flowers to pick or the best vegetables out of our garden in summer Jesus
is waiting to choose the very best brother you! Now that I have complete peace with Noah, it will be easier to let go of my worldly troubles and let God continue with his perfect plan with our family!
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