Homestudy Follow-up

Part 1 of 3 of our homestudy is complete. The first visit went really well, even counting Stella's impromptu performance for the social worker of "Single Ladies" by Beyonce, with pelvic thrusts and all! (kids always have perfect timing!) Next week, Jordan and I have our personal interviews. Jordan's interview is Tuesday and mine is Thursday.

The home visit conversations got our brains stirring, which is good, but also a bit overwhelming for a control freak like myself. Once you think that you have your boat in the water and have set it to sail, a big storm comes and starts rocking the boat. Don't worry, no big changes have happened. For the most part, everything is the same, but she gave us a lot to chew on when it comes to certain issues.

Today (the day after our home visit), I felt completely out-of-control, which I hate. I was impatient with God's timing in my life, and decided to make him take the bench for today and put my life back in order MY WAY. Let me tell you how that turned out. Looking back on the day I just realize how unworthy I am of His grace and mercy. That I'm a human being that constantly sins and makes the wrong choices when I'm not confiding in Him first. I definetely was trying to take the wheel from Him today, and tonight I'm sitting here realizing how I failed miserably. On regular days I remind myself, constantly that God is in control, He's on my side, and His love is what compels me. I hate that I have to have days like I had today just to make me realize that I can't do ANY of this without him, but at the same time, I never want to forget that. I'm actually so grateful and amazed that God can allow us to have bad days and still be there for us with arms open wide when we come running back to Him. I serve an AMAZING God.

"For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again." 2 Corinthians 5:14-15

So, for all of my prayer warriors. Here's a list of things that I need prayer for in big, big ways.

1. Strength, patience, and hope to get us through the rest of this journey. We're reaching the halfway point and it only gets harder and more complex from here.

2. Finances. The next 2 checks we write will be combined $14,000. Please pray for the grants and adoption loans that we will be applying for. We are also planning on sending out letters to businesses for tax-deductible donations. Right now, as we are on a paperchase, we are also in the fundraising stage, so please pray that God is over all the fundraisers we have going on and all the ones we are trying to get into fruition.

3. Our homestudy interviews. Please pray that the interviews go well, and leaves us with a sense of peace and hope.

4. God's provision. Please pray that He will keep showing us the path, and that we will have the courage and faith to walk down it.

Thanks to all of you that have been with us along this journey so far. We truly feel every thought and prayer. All of the encouraging words truly keep us going. 

Heartaches and Updates

We have our home visit from our social worker on November 29, right after Thanksgiving. I'm really excited that the home study will be complete soon, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a tad bit nervous. I've been a mad woman around my house trying to get the house spotless and trying to keep it that way!  There are so many emotions going through this process.

We are also working on all of the documents that make up our dossier. Sometimes, it gets pretty overwhelming, so I have to make sure that I am taking one document at a time. I can't wait to look back on our dossier when it's complete, and think of all the sweat, tears, time and printer ink that went into it.

We've also been doing our required adoption training as well. We've completely fell in love with the Ethiopian culture. I cannot get enough of it, and all I keep doing is finding more books to read and more blogs to follow (Like I have any extra time in my life right now, to be able to do more). It's fun bonding and growing with my husband as well while we are going through our training. You think after 11 years of being with a person, you've got them down pretty well, but I love growing together and I'm amazed more and more everyday of him and his heart. I'm thankful that God chose Jordan to be my husband and partner in crime.

The fourth thing that we are trying to prepare is our USCIS I-600A form. It's basically a $670 immigration form that we have to submit along with our FBI fingerprints (Another $180). We are raising money right now for this step, by selling some stuff over the holidays. So, email me if you're interested in coffee or handmade headbands. I'm also custom-making christmas cards and invitations as well. 

After these 4 things are complete, we get on the 6-9 month waiting list to be matched with our boy. Then, we wait.....................and wait....................and wait!

Every night, Jordan and I have a bedtime ritual we do with the kids every night. It always starts with "shaking out our sillies." Next, we read them 2 books, talk about the plans for the next day, and then we pray. Max is still little enough, that I get to rock him a little before I lay him down in his crib. Last night, I was rocking him and as his sweet little arms were wrapped around me, and his little head was rested on my shoulder, I just couldn't help but think, if my other baby boy was being rocked right now by someone. 

This is the stuff that is starting to consume my thoughts. The thought that he is out there somewhere and I am across the world from him and can't hold him and rock him to sleep at night. I want him to feel safe. I want him to have hope. I want him to know that we are anxiously waiting for him to come home and that he belongs to us, but most importantly, I want him to know that he is loved. That he is loved more and more everyday, and I will rock him all day, everyday, if that is what it takes for him to know that he is loved once he's here. I desperately hope, that there is someone in his life right now, that he can feel that from. It tears me apart to think that he is not getting that.

I want to get to my son. I'm wanting this more and more everyday. Please continue to pray for us during this time. Pray for our son in Ethiopia. Pray that God is putting all of our prayers on his heart and that he can feel our love from across the world. Please pray for our homestudy visit, that everything goes smoothly and efficiently. Last but not least, please pray for our finances. Yes, we are still waiting on hearing about a settlement from our court case that is STILL going on. We are also starting to prepare for the rest of the cost of our adoption (the REALLY expensive part). Pray for God's provision and of course, for His glory to be seen through our journey.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Give thanks!

ORPHAN SUNDAY "Defend the cause of the fatherless..." Isaiah 1:17

Today is a national day to bring awareness to a HUGE crisis in the world. EVERYONE plays a part and everyone needs to help. Here's some great resources to see how you can help.

http://www.cryoftheorphan.org/

http://www.147millionorphans.com/

http://www.thewaterproject.org/

http://www.becauseeverymothermatters.com/

True Religion from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

My personal Christmas Store!

Every year for Christmas, I always strive to buy gifts for others that are not only something thoughtful for the recipient, but also gives back to a good cause. I'm so over consumerism, and giving my money to major corporations, like Best Buy and stores in the mall. You think of the thousands of dollars people spend on Christmas gifts a year. If all that money provided gifts and doubled by helping charitable organizations, now wouldn't that portray the real meaning of Christmas! If you just do a little research, you can find tons of gifts like this. Tradeasone.com is one of my favorites! Here are a couple of ideas, right now, that you don't have to research:







The headbands!



My salon is teaming up with a wonderful organization, called Because Every Mother Matters and selling headbands for Africa. The headbands are sewn by Ugandan refugees that are trying to support their children. A portion of the proceeds goes to them, a portion of the proceeds goes towards building Ethiopian birthing centers to prevent maternal and infant mortality due to childbirth (which is a big contributor to the 147 million world wide orphan crisis) and part of the proceeds will help our adoption. These headbands are the cutest things and every woman, no matter what age, would love them!



To purchase the headbands online from me, just go to our "Donate" button in the right column of our blog and make a $15 donation. In the message box, type "HEADBAND" and I can mail them to you. I will try my best to get you the exact pattern you want.



The cutest headband model ever!



Another organization our family is teaming up with is, Just Love Coffee Roasters. This is an organization that sells delicious coffee from Africa. In Ethiopia, coffee, is the export that generates most of the countries income. When you buy their coffee, a portion of the profit goes to help build schools in Ethiopia for older orphaned children, and a portion of the proceeds goes toward our adoption. To buy the coffee, just click on the website above and it will take you to our family store. There are so many different kinds of coffee and who doesn't love coffee!

Make a difference this Christmas, or just buy one for yourself, and let's change the world, one person at a time!





Fields of the Fatherless

I recently read the book, "Fields of the Fatherless" by C. Thomas Davis. Talk about discovering the joy through compassionate living Wow! That book is a straight pathway to the face of joy, love and Jesus. It made me think.

A lot of people have asked for "the reason" why we are adopting. That's always a hard question to answer in one brief statement. While there are too many reasons under the sun of why to adopt, there are a few that truly live inside me and are making this a reality for me. So here they are, and to truly answer the question.
Joy. Just like every soon-to-be mother, and even the women who haven't become mother's yet but want to, we all share that unsettled feeling or that inner voice that can't be silenced of lacking a certain joy that can only be embraced through loving a child. There is nothing in this world that brings me more joy than to be a mother. I love looking into the eyes of my children and my husband, knowing that God made all of us and put us together as a family for a purpose. It's an impossible feeling to explain, but it's just one of those things that you just know. It's like when you meet your husband, or you embrace your calling . I know that God has brought another child into this world that belongs to our family. He just happens to be across the world. There will be no greater joy than the day he is united with us, and he is home where he belongs. He belongs with us.

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families." Psalm 68:5-6

 

Love. I believe that everyone in this world deserves someone to love them. It doesn't matter who that is or where they come from. We are all the same, and we all have the need to be loved. Not only do we have the need to be loved, we also all have the responsibility of loving one another. EVERY SINGLE PERSON must do their part in this lifetime of "loving one another". What are you doing in your life to show love to others? I challenge you to open your heart and mind to the idea of what it looks like in your own life to do your part and love.
There are a lot of people in this world who are truly helpless. They cannot do it on their own, whether they are homeless, orphaned, or just struggle with addicition. You, most likely, have experienced helplessness in your life. I know I have! I feel the need to love others at the very depths of my soul. Especially, the helpless. That feeling comes from deep within, and I wish I could take credit for that feeling that leads me to action, but I don't stir it up myself.

"We love because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19

 

Jesus. I yearn to see the love of Christ. To catch a glimpse of what that looks like. When you see His glory and love, it's absolutely poetic and never enough. He reveals himself through His grace and blessings. Going through this adoption process has given me so many glimpses of Jesus already, so I know when I finally get to see my son face-to-face, it will be like looking at the face of Jesus.

"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepraed for you since the beginning of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needig clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of the brothers of mine, you did for me."

Matthew 25:34-40

Yes, I have fears of adoption. We have considered everything from finances to worries of this child later on resenting us for taking him out of one culture to another to abandonment and attachment issues. The list could just go on. But, our hearts still triumph over all of that. We have decided that we will not let fear win over God's will for our life. We will not let another child suffer, because it makes us or other people uncomfortable. We know that after the actual adoption process comes the real journey, but there is a mighty God in control of everything, and it will turn out for His deliverance.

We got the email!

Very exciting news! we received our dossier adoption planner through email today. Now the paperwork really begins. We also have to sign up for our adoption parenting classes as well. We're still waiting on some of our homestudy paperwork to come in, so that we can schedule our home visits. They said that it will take up to 12 weeks to get it in, so hopefully, it will take less. The ball has officially begun rolling. Fun, fun stuff ahead and it's a beautiful day outside! Life is good. God is good.

The Check I've Been Waiting to Write

Today I've never been happier to write and mail off a BIG check!! Yes, we finally got to mail off our IAP form and first agency fee. God is good.

And yes, Stella decided to document the paperwork process with her fabulous photography work!

I'm a little on the quirky side when it comes to some things. Having a bit of a type-A personality, I love organizing, sorting, and absolutely love filling out paperwork! Even when I was little and your elementary sent you home with a ton of paperwork for your parents to fill out on the first day of school, I always begged my mother to let me fill out all of mine and BOTH my brothers' as well. It's such a soothing thing for me. (I know, quirky, right!?!) It's the little things that God does, like giving me the love of paperwork, that makes me know I was made for this process!

"For we are HIS workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so

that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

It has been a joyful week at the Michael house. I feel God's presence inside of our home just working inside of us, and wrapping His arms of love and joy around all of us. He's really preparing our hearts for this precious little man who will, hopefully soon, be joining our family. Amidst all the craziness in our lives right now, He is the one who creates this peace inside of us, and is carrying us through.

So what's next...

Now that our IAP form is mailed out, we will be hearing from our agency, hopefully tomorrow, and they will provide us with our adoption planner (pretty much, a BIG checklist of everything we need for our dossier.) We are working everyday to finish up the paperwork on our homestudy to finish that. Tomorrow we are going to get fingerprinted and send off for our last document we need to send off for our homestudy paperwork. The estimated completion time for that will be around 6-12 weeks. Please pray, that all of the records I have sent off for will arrive back to us safely and in a timely manner to keep this process smooth and in His timing.

Again, thanks so much to everyone who has been involved with our journey thus far. NONE of this would have been possible if it weren't for all of you. There's nothing more beautiful than seeing a community of people coming together to bring Him glory.

Please keep praying for our legal situation as well. It's still dragging on, and somedays still gets the best of me. I pray every morning for God to just keep pointing my mind forward, to what's ahead, and to not look behind on the past and the situations that I cannot change. It's a daily battle, but He is faithful.

Great is Your faithfulness! Great is Your faithfulness!

Morning by morning, new mercies I see. All I have needed YOUR hand hath provided.

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!"

- "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" Thomas Chisholm