Adoption Update and Prayer Requests

Here is a copy of the latest e-mail we sent out:

Dear Family and Faithful Supporters,

                Merry CHRISTmas!!! What a beautiful time of year where we get to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior! We pray that you are all doing well this holiday season and that you are able to take time out of your busyness to remember the reason for the season J!!

                We wanted to update you on the progress of our adoption process as well as share some prayer requests!! As a reminder, you can always check out our blog and even sign up to receive posts via e-mail at www.tntadoption.blogspot.com

First of all, WOW!!! Thank you to each and every one of you who came and/or helped out with our adoption fundraiser, “The China Experience!” We had a great turn out of over 250 adults and children, and we are so thankful to have raised over $6000!!!

                In addition to our fundraiser, we have now officially entered “Stage 2: The Dossier Submission and Waiting” aka, the “WAIT!!!” All our paperwork is now in China, and we just wait for our agency to match us with our daughter… It could happen any day, or even months from now (of course our prayer is sooner rather than later)J. Once we are matched we will enter the final stage which is preparing for travel and actually traveling to China. We are continually learning to wait for God’s perfect timing and rest in the fact that He already knows who our daughter is!!

                We also are super excited about Tiffinie’s CD’s. We still have some available and would love for you to have one! They are not for sale, but rather as a gift to those of you who have helped fund our adoption. The first CD is called, “For Such a Time as This,” and is a praise and worship album, and the second is called, “A Precious Gift,” which is a Christmas album. We pray that they would be a blessing to you as you have blessed us!! For more details on where or how to donate, and how to get the CD’s, please let us know. We have them available at the church, and for those of you in the So. Cal area, my family has some available. We continue to trust God to provide the rest of the funds needed for this adoption! We estimate we need roughly $10,000 more.

                Many of you may also know the Liu family in our church. We would like to extend the invitation to a Pancake Breakfast sponsored by the Orphan Care Ministry to help raise the rest of the funds needed to travel to bring their son Ty home from China!!! What a great, tangible way to help… we all need to eat breakfast J!! The breakfast will be in the church gym on Sunday morning December 30… Make sure you stop on by!! We are rejoicing with them as they will be traveling to China in January to bring him home!!

                Lastly, here are a few things you can be praying for:

                                -Continued peace and patience as we wait for our daughter

                                -Wisdom and guidance as we review the file (when the time comes)

                               and that a perfect match would be found.

                                -That God would continue to provide the funds needed

                                -That God would stir in the hearts of His people to be motivated towards action

                                -That everything will go smoothly with our paperwork in China 

                                -Preparation for our family for whatever “special need” our daughter may have

                We continue to be humbled and stand in awe of all that has happened in the last 8 months to help an orphan girl be joined together with her forever family! “Thank you” seems so inadequate, but we truly are so grateful for everything you all have done! As 2012 comes to a close we continue to praise the Lord for His many blessings! May we keep our eyes fixed on Him as we begin 2013!

 

With joy and love,

Tim, Tiffinie, Jeremy, Drew, and baby girl Nielsen

               

Reflecting over our Journey through Stage 1

I can't believe that it has been 8 months since we sent in our paperwork to AWAA!! The time in some ways has dragged on forever, and in other ways has flown by!! Now that the bulk of our paperwork is complete and we are in the "Waiting Stage," I thought I would take some time to reflect back on our journey so far...

I remember well over a year ago sitting at Starbucks having a conversation with my sister-in-law Maria about the adoption of their 2 kids from Rwanda. I had so many questions for her! That conversation sparked what had already been cultivating in my heart for many years! I remember Maria sharing with me that if God had placed the call on my heart to adopt, then I needed to not let that die out... (as a side note I remember reading something somewhere of a statistic that of those who consider adoption, only around 10% of them will actually follow through with it)

When I approached Tim with the thought, I was so thankful that although he was not on board yet, he said that we should continue to dialogue about it. We started reading a book called "Adopted for Life," and our perspective about adoption completely changed. We started seeing adoption the way God sees it... His heart breaks for the fatherless, the needy, the oppressed!!! He saw us as lost (which is what we are without Him), and He came to this earth to save us and to adopt us as His own. We started to realize that the adoption of a child is so much more than simply expanding a family. It is about becoming a "father to the fatherless," to rescue a child that otherwise would be left without a home, to welcome a child to be a part of our family, to show her hope, to love her unconditionally, and to point her to her true Savior in hopes that one day she too would be adopted into His family!! We knew that we had more room in our family and that this was God's calling on our family!

I remember the time spent looking into where we should adopt from... local/domestic, international, what country, what age, etc. There were so many details to look into and sooooooo many different agencies to use!! It was during this time that as we prayed for wisdom for what God wanted for our family, we settled on China. That week, my friend Lynette was over (not knowing we were looking into adoption) and shared that her friends, the Eby's were adopting from China!!! I knew that we needed to get in touch with them! I called them and asked a lot of questions, and we decided to also use America World as our adoption agency... That began our journey with Stage 1...We were excited to find out there was also another family in our church adopting from China, and so the three of our families banned together to "Join the Journey!"

I remember when we first settled on China, we really couldn't fathom how we were going to get the money to be able to adopt... I must admit that Tim was filled with much more faith than I was. He stated very clearly that "not all are called to adopt, but all of us are called to help the orphan... we just need to make this a team effort!"

At first my mind began to do the math... Let's see, we have a big extended family, a big church family, and know a bunch of people... If everyone we knew even gave a little, we could make this happen!!! I was sooo excited to begin the journey!! We sent out our first support letter, and WAITED, and WAITED, and WAITED.... nothing... not even a dollar! I remember the tears!!

We needed $1500 initially to start the whole process and once we started, we couldn't really back out due to lack of funds... we had yet to receive even a dollar from family and friends, so we were left at a crossroads... Do we not go through with the adoption process, or to we step out in trust? We decided to take the step of faith and trust God to provide! And boy has He ever!!! Why did I ever doubt??? It seems so silly looking back now, but I do remember the gut wrenching emotions of praying for our future daughter in China, and thinking that "I just can't do this!!! This is too hard and people don't get it, and there's no way we can come up with this money on our own!!!...but I can't leave our daughter out there without a family!!"

As far as the finances go, God has continued to provided every step of the way... we are not there yet, but I have amazing faith and hope as so many have come alongside us and joined the journey!! Through our events, fundraisers, Chinese Food Boxes, and faithful supporters, we have been able to complete everything thus far without having to go into debt!! Thank you to all of you who have given to help bring our daughter home!!

As the money started to come in, we began the roller coaster ride of adoption!! We started the "paper chasing" and home study process... what fun!!!??? Everything had to be filled our precisely accurate... everything about us had to be revealed,--our past, our present, our future :-)...Everything had to be notarized (and thanks to our "Join the Journey" night, we found a notary in our church)...

I remember our trip to the Dr.'s with Lora Jeanne (our new friend and notary). She had to notarize the Dr.'s who had performed our physicals. My Dr. was in a complete rush and as we were driving home I realized she didn't fill the form out correctly and stated that I was NOT fit to be an adoptive parent :-)... So, I had to travel back again to have here do it all over again. 

I remember struggling over the fact that although we entered the China program 3 weeks after the Eby's, God had a much slower route for us than for them... they were able to complete their home study in 3 days, and it took us over 2 months...paperwork continually got delayed and things moved a lot slower for us!

It was through all of this that I learned to trust God's timing... He already knows who our daughter is, and when we will be getting her, and knows exactly when everything needs to be completed by in order to get her!

I remember the craziness of things like Drew swallowing a battery (from a tiny finger light that cost roughly 10 cents) and the trip to the ER (they told us we had to go to make sure the battery wasn't leaking acid) that cost us $1000...The craziness of all my tests for my physical that didn't come back normal and fearing that I would find out I had some sort of deadly cancer... Further tests and procedures came back absolutely fine :-)...The craziness of Jeremy starting Kindergarten in the midst of the paperwork stage... The craziness of the Secretary of State office not accepting all the notaries from our agency and having to have them re-done... The craziness of recording 2 CD's to help raise $ for the adoption, and the enemy doing whatever he could to feed me lies, and sabotage the project...I'm sure there's more...

In the midst of this roller coaster ride, we have had to stay focused on the fact that there is a little girl somewhere half way around the world that is waiting for her mommy and daddy to wrap her up in their arms and say, "welcome home!!"

So as I reflect back on Stage 1, none of the former matters... the craziness, the money, the emotions, the exhaustion, etc.! All that matters, is we are one stage closer to holding her in our arms and there being one less orphan in this world...

Where are we at with our financial support?

We get this question often and we wanted to continue to keep you all posted with our finances for the adoption...

We are a little over 1/3 there towards the final cost of the adoption!!! That's super exciting for us, and we continue to be amazed at the creative ways many of you have come up with to help bring our daughter home!!

I want you to know that each and every gift that has been given, whether small or large, has been written down and accounted for :-)... our daughter will be able to know the names of all those who helped bring her home!!

For those of you who have chosen to collect change in the "Chinese Food boxes," the boys love taking them to the coin collector at the bank!! We write down each of your names and record how much change was in your box... It is so much fun! Thank you so much for your generousity!!

We also get the question about when we need the money by... the great thing is, it is not due all at once. Pretty much every step of the process requires some sort of money attached to it... for instance, the whole fingerprinting process and immigration check with the homeland security cost $890. Once we get approved by them, we will have to get all our paperwork certified and authenticated. Each document costs $ to be checked, so that will be another expense. Once we send the paperwork to China, we will have our biggest one time expense thus far... a little over $6000 for agency fees, China's fees and interpretation fees...

So I guess the bottom line is, we are so blessed to have made it thus far!!! We have a long way to go, but God has continued to provide every step of the way!! We are so thankful!

Almost Finished with Stage 1!!!

I can't believe it's already October!!! Time has flown by!! We are excited to share some of the latest news with our adoption!

Right now, we are awaiting our official appt. for our fingerprints to be taken for the Dept. of Homeland Security. I must say, it is quite fun to get mail from the Dept. of Homeland Security... I feel so official! :-) Of course, it always blows my mind that we have to yet again get our fingerprints done cuz apparently every dept. has their own criteria... Oh well :-)!

Once the fingerprints are done and we get the green light, we will be ready to get everything certified, authenticated and sent off to China... woo hoo!!!

We are also officially in the referral program... EEEK!! My heart wants to know who our daughter is TODAY, but I also want to stay patient and wait for God's perfect timing!!

In the meantime, we are keeping busy getting everything ready for our fundraiser dinner November 17!!! We are so excited to have this dinner, share our story, and get the word out there of the great need for "fathers to the fatherless." Please mark your calendars!!

I am also super excited about working on 2 CD's right now!!! This has totally been a "God thing," and it's been neat to see it all come together! Please be praying for all the logistics... If all goes well, both CD's will be available starting at our Fundraiser dinner November 17. Of course, they will be available for "Donation only" with all the money going towards our adoption!!

Phew!! This whole process continues to be surreal, and we are so excited to continue to see everything unfold, and eagerly await being able to be united with our daughter, wherever she may be at this very moment!!

We continue to be overwhelmed with your love and support!! Thank you sooo much!!

An Exhausting, But Profitable and Fun Weekend!

Friday began with decorating for our Ladies Bunko Night Out!! It was so much fun to be hanging out in the gym with my friends and seeing all their creativities come to life!! We then had an AWESOME night with such great ladies who came out to support our adoption! Thank you to all my friends who helped and thank you to all who came out for a great night!!! Here's some fun pictures of the evening:

 Here's my friends working hard setting everything up! Thank you to: Kari, Alicia, Rebecca, Renee, Malee, and Lynette who came to help set up!

Here's the Final Set-up... Looking forward to a great night!!!

A fun night with friends!

All the great Bunko gifts graciously donated by my Bunko group!! Thanks ladies!!

The BEAUTIFUL dessert table decorated by Renee and Malee!!

Fun "Take-Home" gifts...

And then...

We then decided to have a garage sale bright and early Saturday morning :-)... Although it was crazy, busy, hot, and "Phatty" (thanks to your donations of stuff), it was extremely profitable!!! It was a mind-boggling experience though to be talked down from $0.50 to $0.25 for items...even though we reminded them that 100% of the sales were going towards our adoption! I guess people just want a "steal" no matter what!! :-)

Tim also had the brilliant idea of setting up cones in front of our house so people could drive by and see what we had...It also cut down on the traffic in front of our house!!

And then there is Peyton...

This is Peyton :-)

Peyton decided to "Join the Journey" at the very beginning of our adoption process!! He is the son of one of my dear friends, Melissa. Ever since he found out we were adopting, he has always been thinking of fun, creative ways to "Join the Journey." He and his family have given of their time, talents, and treasures to help in great ways these past many months.

This past week Peyton turned "9!" On Saturday afternoon he had a pool party for his birthday! Many friends and family were invited for a great celebration. Something that Peyton's family has done for many years is to ask friends and family to give a donation to a particular cause (of the kids choosing) in leiu of birthday gifts! What a great way to think of others!! This year, Peyton was so excited to share with us that he chose " bringing Jeremy and Drew's baby sister home" to be what he wanted his birthday money to go towards!  

We had a great time at the party that afternoon, and we are so blessed by Peyton thinking of our baby girl!! Thank you Peyton for continuing to be on this great "journey" with us!! Jeremy and Drew's little sister will hear and know of this great story someday!!

And so...

An exhausting, but profitable weekend!!! We are so blessed by your continued prayers and support!! We love each and every one of you!!   

Girls Night Out...This Friday!!!!

Alright ladies!!! It's time to get ready for a fun night out!!! This Friday night (the 24th at 7:00) in the FBC gym, we will have a ton of fun hanging out and playing Bunko together... and let me tell you, the prizes are going to be amazing!!!

Invite as many friends as you know!!! We would love to fill the gym! Don't worry if you don't know how to play, we'll teach you!! :-)

We hope to see you there!!

Kid's Can Change the World!!!

From left to right... Talia, Katie, Abby, and Mia

It all began at the "Join the Journey" adoption night... I found Katie and Abby at a table writing down a bunch of notes. I asked what they were doing, and they shared that they were coming up with ways that they could "Join the Journey!" They were so excited to do whatever they could for the orphans!

Here is the fruit of their labors... They decided to have a garage sale and quickly set out to get items donated from friends and family! They even got a write up about them in the newspaper!! On Friday, they were busy pricing everything out, making posters, and just having fun! When I came by to bring by some "Join the Journey" bracelets, t-shirts, etc., they escorted me to "base camp,"  as they called it :-)!!

We arrived this morning at 7 AM to find an already busy and extremely well organized garage sale... there was even a map where you could find everything! The girls were eager to share with others that they were doing this garage sale to raise money for the families adopting from China!!!

As a result, the girls raised over $600 for the China families!!! Way to go girls! What a blessing you are to all of us! Thank you for serving in such an awesome way!!! You HAVE changed the world!!