So Good to Be Home!!!

I'm sure you all know by now, but we are home!!!  We FINALLY arrived home on Friday, December 10th, nearly six weeks after our we left - and MUCH later than had been expected.

We were greeted at the airport by George and the kids, my parents, and my sister.  I didn't know they were all coming, so it was a great surprise to see everyone.  There were lots of happy tears and tears of relief shed! 

In the coming weeks, I will be blogging about our journey in more detail.  I typed a couple of entries while in the DRC, but didn't post them.  I will probably start by posting those.

In the meantime, thank you for praying!!  I mean it when I say that we could "feel" people praying for us.  It's the only thing that got us through!  When we returned, Caleb was hospitalized for the weekend.  He's been doing much better, with only some minor issues.  He LOVES his siblings!  We are so very thankful to have been able to spend Christmas with our WHOLE family together!

We hope to put together an official "gotcha day" video on you tube to inspire and educate others about adoption.  For Christmas this year, my sister-in-law, gave us a great gift.  She made this short video about our homecoming.  Keep in mind that Caleb was SICK on the flight home and when you read about our journey to the airport, you will understand why we look so bad on this video!  Anyhow, hope you enjoy it!  Thanks, Autum, for such a meaningful Christmas gift - we LOVE it!!  Silence my music at the bottom of the page before playing this video.

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010

Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2010
As of yesterday, still no good news from the Embassy. We continue to patiently wait. St. Anne's has proven to be a very safe place. We feel completely comfortable here, but are BORED!! We basically spend the day in our room, with the exception of walking across the street to the market and going for a walk or two around the complex. The people here are awesome and look out for us and our safety. The other day, we got close to the gate and we were stopped by a worker telling us that it was a bad time of day, not to go anywhere. Also, a friend of a friend stopped here to see me and she said she had a horrible time finding out where I was. We just happened to come down the steps and bump into her. Noone would tell her whether or not I was even at St. Anne's.
We have no idea how long we will have to stay in the DRC. As of now, there is no end in sight. Our situation has proven to be very unique and we feel like we're fighting a battle that we're not sure we are going to win. VERY FRUSTRATING! What we do know is that this was bound to happen to someone, if it wouldn't have happened to us. Please pray for quick resolution and a quick homecoming.
The kids are awesome! Both have been sick. Caleb most recently was running a temp of 102.9 most of the day yesterday and into this morning. He finally has climbed out of my lap and is crawling around the floor. He has not slept in two nights, other than half-hour increments. Hoping to catch a nap today.
We have been chronicling our journey and will share more details when we are safe on U.S. soil. For now, just know that we really need your prayers. I can't imagine that God would lead us to this little guy half way around the world only to have me come home without him.

Sunday, Nov 7, 2010

So...things are much improved.  Praise the Lord!  It's the middle of Sunday afternoon and Caleb is snuggled in bed next to me.  The events of the past week are so jumbled in my head.  It's hard to imagine having been through such panic, chaos, and at times - sheer terror, when having Caleb here makes the world feel so right.  Thank you for praying! 

Friday, Nov. 5, 2010

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! 

The last 24 hours have held events that I don't know if I'll ever be able to sort out in my mind.  And, obviously, at this point in time, they can not be shared on this blog.  The situation, however, is much improved, but still far from over. 

Without knowing the details (because God already knows them anyhow), would you please over the next 48 hours not only pray for our safety, but also that I would manage to be gracious and warm and that I would radiate God's love and the love that I feel for our son, who, by the way, is beautiful!

When Sunday is over, pray for our safety and  pray, pray, pray that the paperwork process now moves smoothly and quickly!  The urgency of getting home is heavy upon usl

Yesterday, through the darkest hours, I took comfort in knowing that people were praying.  I will also say that before this trip, I'd have said I was wimpy.  Well, NOT ANYMORE!!  We have totally felt the prayers and I know that God has  not only walked beside, but carried me the last several days (like "Footprints in the Sand").

Please pray!

Hi Everyone,

Posting to ask that you please, please, please pray!  We have found ourselves in a situation that has become our worst nightmare.  The good new is that we will wake up from this bad dream soon.  We have made our blog private for safety reasons.  Many of you who have been in touch with my husband know what has happened.  For those of you who don't know, pray anyhow!  I can't and won't go into details until we are all home safe and sound.  At some point in the future, I hope to make this blog public again.  If you know of others who would like to follow this journey, have them email for an invite.

Just pray...please!!!

Thanks,
Hope

Sending a shout-out to our sweet friends who gave us a gift of money to buy a netbook so I have a way of (at least attempting) communicating while away. You know who you are and we're overwhelemed by your generosity.
Sitting in the airport awaiting our first leg of the flight. Would love to be able to put in words what's going through my mind, but my head is spinning. For starters, i'm dreading the thought of being away from George and the kids for any significant length of time. I'm also a bit worried about the flight. Or, not so much the flight, but landing in Kinshasa after dark. I'm sure it will be very evident that we're visitors! But, more than all those thoughts, I keep thinking of sweet Caleb and how I can't wait to love on him! I'm thinking about how much he and so many other orphans deserve a family. Caleb is one of the fortunate of the over five million orphans in the D.R. Congo. So many will remain orphans, never having a family to show them the love they so deserve.
I also know that visiting a place like the D.R.C. will change me. I've known that since we started this adoption process. I know that I can't visit a place like our son's birth country and come away the same person as before. I'm also sure that even though I know this, I have NO idea how MUCH this will affect me.
My prayer - and you can pray with and for me - is that while I'm there, whether for a short or longer amount of time, I will have an opportunity to make a difference, to be a blessing in some way to others. Don't know who or what or how, but I'm remaining open. :)
Before we left church today, my whole family (minus my brother, Todd) was there to see us off to the airport. What a blessing it was to have them there to support Vickie and I as we began the traveling part of this journey. Thanks, Dad, for being a great leader and praying with us before we left. What a special time!

And, we're off.....here we go!

Whirlwind Week

Pick Vickie up airport - check
Get Visas in D.C. -  check
Copy gazillion (I might have just made up a word) documents - check
Buy Gifts - check
Scabies medicine - check
Lice medicine - check
Ibuprofen - check
Neosporin - check
Antibiotics - check
Antimalarial - check
Typhoid vaccine - check
Yellow fever - check
baby carrier - check
stroller - check
passport - check
crisp new money check - gotta tell ya - I do NOT get that one, but oh well...at this point, we're willing to do anything to get Caleb home!!
formula - check
diapers - check
hand sanitizer - check
deet - check
Power of Attorney - check

And, that's just a small sampling of what we've been working on this week getting ready to go!  The list goes on and on.

Through all this busyness and running around, God hasn't forgotten to show Hisblessing.  For starters, He's allowed us to journey this path with Art and Vickie - how totally cool that two brothers and sisters-in-laws would be adopting from the same country at the same time!  And, for me, just spending time with Vickie is always fun.  Since Art & Vickie live in Hawaii and we live in Pennsylvania, we don't see each other often.  I'm so thankful that I'll get to spend my time in the DRC with not only Caleb, but also with Vickie and my new niece (can't wait to meet her!).

We didn't know how long it would take to have our visas processed.  When I called, they said we might have to spend the night since we'd be arriving after lunch.  We made it there by lunch and had our visas in the afternoon.  Didn't have to stay over night - yeah - another blessing!

And, I was totally blessed at work yesterday when my coworkers presented me with a generous gift of money (thank you so much, girlies!  love ya!).  Came home to find out that our neighbors and some dear friends have also felt compelled to help with this journey.  Thank you, Everyone!  You know who you are and PLEASE just know that you've been a huge blessing and we thank God for you.  :)

Oh.....and let me tell you about my other sister-in-law who knew how busy I'd be this week.  She called and asked if she could make us a meal.  I said, "That'd be great!".  Didn't I come home from Washington D.C. Wednesday night to find....are your ready for this?...chicken, corn, double baked potatoes, macaroni and cheese, lasagna, bar-b-que, apple cobbler, ice cream...I might even be forgetting something.....she not only made enough food to get us through the week without having to take a lot of time to cook.  She provided a couple of meals for the freezer for George to heat up while I'm gone.  TOTALLY AWESOME!  Thanks, Autum!

We were blessed tonight with lots of friends stopping by.  Love having the kids and the old people (Mark) stop by.  Tonight, I needed a couple of hours away from making lists, checking documents, etc.  Friends stopping by was the "perfect interruption" - just what I needed! 

Point is that God provides and gives us what we need.  The cliche "It all works out in the end" isn't just a cliche.  It REALLY works out. 

Tomorrow will be a day full of packing (AFTER soccer) and then Sunday, it's early church and straight to the airport.  Hopefully next time I blog, it will be from the DRC with a little man snuggling his mama while she's trying to type.  Can't wait!

Here we go!

Oh my!  Let's cut right to the chase and tell you that I found out THIS morning that we need to be in the DRC early next week.  I figured it would work that when it finally did happen, we wouldn't have much notice.  That's exactly what has happened!  Hopefully in a week, I'll have Caleb in my arms letting him know how we've waited for him and how much his forever family loves him!

In the meantime, I have A LOT to do to get ready.  My sister-in-law (who just got back home to Hawaii on Saturday) will fly out tomorrow morning to come to PA so we can travel together.  I'll be picking her up in Harrisburg and we will head to the Embassy in D.C. to get our visas rushed so that we can leave on the weekend.  If our visas are not processed, we will not be able to leave.  PRAY that this process goes smoothly.  I have plenty of stuff to do at home and don't want to be in D.C. until the time we fly out.  I'm looking forward to the fall parties at school with the kids on Friday and am so hoping we will be home for these.
So, today, I woke up not knowing that I'd receive THE email.  I started my day at Walmart at 5:00 this morning so that we could host the girls soccer team for their pre-playoff carb party.  I'm not sure what happened, but these girl are WOUND up!  Check out the photos.  All I did was provide a meal and a little music and they've gone crazy!!!

Not all the pictures uploaded, but trust me, folks - this was one fun night!  One thing I love about being a mom is getting to know our kids' friends and providing a fun place for them to gather. 

Thank you, Girls, for making me laugh all evening!  Take good care of my daughters while I'm gone!

So, now the fun is over and tomorrow I get REAL serious about packing and leaving for the DRC. 

Decision Made!

After a lot of research and prayer, we've decide that Caleb needs to come home!

Now -  that's a lot easier said than done if you haven't figured that out!  We are kinda caught in the middle of some recent changes made to the DRC adoption process.  If we follow these changes through to the end, we don't know when we'd get to bring Caleb home.  On the flip side, when the end arrives, there wouldn't be much to do in the DRC and our trip to pick up Caleb would be short and sweet.  However, since we don't see an end in sight (seems like it could add at least another couple of months to the process).  we've decided to be a little more proactive, which we feel could bring Caleb home by the end of the year!  Woohoo!  The bad part of this is that the stay in the DRC will be MUCH longer. 

We've opted for me (Hope) to travel as soon as possible (we're waiting for ANOTHER Embassy appointment date - hopefully it will be within a month) and to follow the paperwork through to the end.  We are being told to expect this to take a minimum of THREE (yes - that's right - THREE!!!) weeks. 

Ok, so for those of you know me, you're all thinking what a wimp I am.  And, you're right!  I don't know how I'll manage being away from George and the other kids for that length of time. I'm already homesick for them.  :(  And, I look over my shoulder in MILLVILLEto make sure I'm safe!  Can you imagine me in the DRC?  Not to mention the critters.....I may have killed a mouse of two (some of you OR friends may know what I'm talking about!!!), but I'm afraid of bugs and mice and....rats....yuk!

So, I may not know how I'll manage, but I know that I will.  And, I'll have my sister-in-law (who's much braver than I am - right, Vickie??!) with me.  We'll be picking up not only Caleb, but my niece as well!  Can't wait to meet them!  We should have our children with us very soon after we get there and will have lots of bonding time while we're shuffling around Kinshasa doing paperwork.

I'm counting on you all to be praying for us!  Please pray that our stay is NOT three weeks or four weeks (7 days would be nice- and I believe in miracles!!).  Pray that our Embassy appointment is SOON  - I am so over waiting!  Pray that our paperwork is in order and processes smoothly and quickly.  Pray that our airfare won't be outrageously expensive.  Pray for our safety.  And, please pray that Caleb and his cousin are healthy and that they adapt to their new mommies, daddies and siblings quickly.   Pray that someday they will realize how much they were loved and wanted even before they were home with their forever families.

Gotta run - soccer tonight (again) :).  Have a great evening!

Pray, Pray, Pray!

We were warned that International adoption is volatile and that changes can rapidly occur.  Now, we are experiencing it. 

We've spent the last couple of months waiting on corrected court documents (which still are not correct) and waiting for our Embassy appointment in Kinshasa.  The appointment was set for September 29th.  It was the middle of "fair week".  For those of you who are local, you know what that means.  We were in the thick of washing, cutting, frying serving 3,650 lbs of potatoes, 1,400 lbs of wings, making wing sauces, etc. at the Bloomsburg Fair.

We took time out the morning of the 29th to have breakfast as a family.  We prayed for Caleb and "celebrated" that it wouldn't be long until he'd be joining us.  That evening, we received an email saying that the process is changing and that the appointment that we waited five weeks for did not happen!  All paperwork must come back to the United States to be processed.  It's my understanding that it will then have to go back to the DRC.  Our agency still does not have clarification, but long story short is that we thought we'd be on a plane by the end of October and, as of now, there is no end in sight. 

Disappointed?  Definitely. 
Frustrated?  Yeah. 
Angry?  A little. 
Worried?  Actually I am.  This is the first time during this process that I've been worried.
Anxious?  Yes.
Losing faith?  Not in God, but in people (maybe this is how it's supposed to be?)

The list goes on and on....I guess it's hard because we were really planning for his homecoming within a couple of weeks.  The process was down to just a few weeks left.  He's been ours on paper since June.  It's time we get to officially welcome him home into our family.  He needs us and we need him.

I've read information from other agencies saying that this new step in the process can now take three weeks to three months, but our agency has not released any information (and our paperwork is "caught in the middle").  I'm hoping OW comes back this week with really good news.  Please pray with us that this issue is resolved quickly.

Thanks, Everyone.  Happy Monday!

Just like a roller coaster

For those of you who don't live nearby, there's an awesome amusement park in Elysburg called Knoebel's Grove.  Each summer we make a trip (or two...or three...) to the park.  All four of our kids love roller coasters.  They come by that naturally.  I've been to known to say that I love the feeling of having my stomach rise to my throat and fall back down again!  The scarier, the better!

Well, let me tell you that this adoption process is a little bit like a roller coaster.  One day things are moving along great, the next day we feel like we're screeching to a halt, only to begin up the big hill again.  This type of roller coaster is NOT as much fun as the Phoenix at Knoebel's, though.  This is the kind of roller coaster that plays with your emotions.  It has its emotional ups and downs, twists and turns - so much that it almost makes us want to hop off and not finish the ride.  Ya know - to look for a more peaceful, "choo-choo train" type of ride.  Then we look at Caleb's picture and remember the nagging feeling that we had before we started this adoption process...the feeling that we needed to be doing something important that God wanted us to do.  We recognize the feeling of emptiness in our hearts, knowing we have a baby boy waiting for his mommy and daddy to come and get him. 

No, this roller coaster ride may not be totally fun, but we are hanging on until this ride is completely over and Caleb is with his forever family.

The Waiting Game

July 8, 2010

Once again, I've been delinquent in my posts, but let me bring you up to date because a lot has been happening.

For starters, everyone keeps asking me, "What's his name?". I think it's "legal" for me to post the name we're giving him, so I'll tell you all that his name will be Caleb. We have decided to keep part of his African-given name as his middle name (can't post any part of that on here - sorry).

Secondly, we spent nearly the first two weeks after his referral with no new information, other than his picture. We were beginning to get discouraged wondering if he was really going to be ours when we received his "official" paperwork (referral papers, health information, etc.). We spent a little bit of time compiling all the pieces of our dossier. Then we went another two weeks without hearing a thing. Let me just say that it is unbelievably hard to be patient, especially now that we have his picture. We look at it, hug it, kiss it, talk to it, but that's enough -We want HIM!!

The good news is that things are moving along. We spent a week on the Outer Banks. It was great family time, but we found ourselves talking a lot about Caleb. Check out the completed family project in the picture below.

On the way home from our vacation, we were told that we were not in court yet, didn't know when our case would to to court, etc. We were slightly discouraged, but still trusting God for his timing. Long story short, we got home and the very next day, we got a phone call saying the adoption was final. Now we begin a 30-day waiting period. I think the whole thing should be called a "waiting period"!

Continue to pray for us as we prepare for his arrival. We are hoping that he will be home in August, but that remains to be seen.

Above photo was taken while we were talking about Caleb on the beach one day during our vacation.  We decided to put our thoughts into action playing in the sand.  :)

Who'd Have Thought?

So, for the last four weeks we've been thinking of girl names, dreaming of pink ruffles, and yes, we bought a pack of those adorable headbands for little girls. I've even been asking around about a hair stylist that can do braids and such.

We found out last week that the referral of the 8 month old little girl probably wasn't going to work out. While we were a bit down, we also had peace that God had the "perfect" child for us. We went "back on the list" assuming we'd probably get a girl since that's what we had gotten the first time. Lo and behold, late last night, our caseworker, Terri, called and said she has a referral for a 5 1/2 month old little BOY - would we be interested? I was tired after a 13 hour day at work and George was in bed when I get home, but as soon as we opened the email and blew up his pictures - it happened. Ya know - that "love at first sight" stuff. It's true...I was totally in love within 30 seconds!! We - well George - decided to "sleep on it", but all that did was make me stay up all night wishing the time would tick away when we (he) could decide for sure we were taking him. I don't think it was that he needed to decide as much as it was that I woke him up out of a dead sleep to look at the picture. And, we were in the little girl mindset - his brain was too tired to comprehend the gender switch.

However, by 5:00 this morning, it was officially decided that we would proceed with the next step and gather additional information on this little guy. He is way too adorable to not jump on the opportunity to have him in our family (and, no, I am not a biased mommy!).

Other than more paperwork, the next step is to think of a boy's name,to think blue and not pink, to think about toads and worms - not headbands and nail polish.

A little boy - who'd have thought? :)

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Good News...and Waiting

I know we've been pretty silent on this blog the last couple of weeks. There was some talk about adoptions jeopardized because of things that were said on blogs and so many adoption blogs went private. We were in "reflection" mode, so it was a good time to be silent.

Since I last blogged, we've mailed our I600a to Immigrations and received our fingerprinting appointment for May 11. Don't know how long it will take to get approval after the appointment. Some states are coming through in a week or two, some seem to take much longer. Have no idea how PA will be.

We've also received a referral of a little girl - YEAH!!! She's seven and a half months old. We're cautiously optimistic as we have no other information (no photo, medical info, etc.). I've been waiting to post until we had more information, but it's been slow coming. With each day, we wonder whether or not this is real. Is the information we need to bring this little girl into our family really going to come? I'm assured it is, so we continue to wait - checking email every ten - well, maybe every five - minutes...How do people survive without their Blackberry phones?

One of my new friends has encouraged me to just rest....to rest in Christ and find full joy in His presence. So hard to do! Today's a new day, so I'm going to keep trying. I'm going to use this waiting time to do the "important things".

Just got back from a walk and I already have a perfect song "stuck in my head" for the day.

While I'm Waiting by John Waller

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

Happy Friday to you all!

Last Chance

If you would like to continue following this blog and you haven't received an invitation, please email me at hopeandgeorge@verizon.net within the next 24 hours and I will send you an invitation. Beginning tomorrow, this blog will be private. Thanks!

Going Private

Due to the volatility of International adoption, we have decided to make this blog private. We hate to do this because we really wanted this blog to be available to anyone interested in adoption. We wanted to use it as a tool to keep our friends and family up to date and also to educate people about International adoption and the process. To follow our blog privately, please click on the follow button. You will need to create a google account. You can do that by using ANY email address. It does not have to be a google address. This blog will be going private in the next week, so please join quickly. If you miss the "deadline", please FB or email us and we will send you an invitation to join at any point in the future. Thanks!

While We Wait

Here we go – it’s easy to say that God’s timing is perfect, but believing it is not always so easy. It turns out there was a tiny - and I mean TINY error (a typo on a 5-digit license# out of pages and pages of information and supporting documents) on our home study. Because of that number transposition, we are now waiting to have that one page corrected, resigned, re-notarized, etc. before we can mail our paperwork to Immigrations.

So, while we've been waiting on our home study, we have continued to educate ourselves about the Congo. I have to be honest - the more we learn, the harder it is to be at peace with the waiting.


Some quick statistics from various sources:


-The infant mortality rate is more than 8/100.


-4/10 children don't live to see their first birthdays because of the lack of safe drinking water, malaria, and other issues.


-1/5 children dies before their fifth birthday.


-There are 5 million orphans in the DRC.


-Some say that the DRC is the poorest African country.


-Some adoptive parents have experienced first hand the devastation and poverty in Congo. We’ve read of adoptive parents who have had their child pass away before they could bring him/her home (can’t imagine that one).


The statistics are daunting. We wonder how much difference our family can make. We’re just your average American family.

Leave it to a nine year old to put that one in perspective. I was talking about how there are so many orphans in Congo and Hallie (who refers to herself as the “ninester” since she’s nine years old) said, "Yes, but we're going to save one, Mommy. There's going to be one less. One orphan is going to have a forever family!" We've heard many adoptive parents say the same thing, but coming from the mouth of a child made me realize that “5 million orphans minus one” is not a cliché. It is a reality. There may be 5 million orphans in the Congo, but when our child comes home, there will be 5 million minus one!

Thank you for supporting us in this journey.

Our Home Study is Complete!

Our home study is complete!! We received official notice today that we can expect it to arrive in the mail within a day or so. The home study is the main piece of our dossier. Now that it is complete, we can begin the immigration process. We've been told that this process takes the longest. It can take a couple of weeks or a couple of months. The prayer is that this adoption process moves according to God's timing.

Well, since this has been posted of Facebook (this wasn’t for publication for a little while), I can now officially let you all know that we will be having “company” for our adoption journey. We’re so excited to be sharing this experience with George’s brother and sister-in-law, Art & Vickie. Art & Vickie have also applied to adopt from the DRC.

When we first began considering adoption, my thoughts were that we would adopt from Korea. Art & Vickie have two biological children and four adopted children from Korea. We absolutely love our nieces and nephews and figured Korea would be a logical place from which to adopt. As I’ve said before, God has been leading us in this process and Korea was not part of His plan. People have told me that God leads you to the country where your child is. I truly believe that because we already feel so incredibly bonded to a child in the Congo we’ve yet to meet!

Instead of Korea, His plan was for us to adopt from the DRC. Art & Vicki have a heart for adoption and have talked about adopting more children, but weren’t sure they’d meet the criteria for Korea anymore. Long story short – I mentioned the DRC to Vick one day and said, “Wanna join us?” I thought they might be interested, but since we don’t have the opportunity to talk frequently, that was all that was said.

When I contacted Vickie to let her know we were definitely filing our application, I asked again, “Are you joining us?” She answered my question with an email that said, “Does this answer your question?” Attached was correspondence she’d had with adoption agencies on the DRC. Unbeknownst to me, she had spoken with many of the same people as I had (not just at our adoption agency). How confusing it must’ve been for them to have two very focused women with the same last name trying to weed out the details that would lead them to their children! I’m sure they were thinking, “Didn’t I already talk to Mrs. Laubach once (or twice or three times) today?” While Art & Vickie are in Hawaii and we are in Pennsylvania, we’ve both chosen the same adoption agency. We’re hoping that it will work out that we will be able to travel to the Congo together when the time comes to pick up our children. Please be praying for them as well as for us.

In the meantime, we’re continuing to work on paperwork. Our home study is nearing completion. We’ve gotten our fingerprints, pet immunizations, etc. I don’t know how I’ll feel when the paperwork’s finished. I’m not an overly patient person. The paperwork makes me feel like we’re being productive - like what we are doing is getting us one step closer to our child. Somehow I don’t think the waiting will give me the same satisfaction as checking items off my list of things to do! I’m reminded that it doesn’t matter what we do. Things will happen as they’re supposed to. Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us that God’s timing is perfect. The waiting, whether it ends up being short or long, is all part of God’s plan and His timing.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He has made everything beautiful in HIS time.”

Week One - Beginning of the Paper Chase

The paper chase has begun! We spent the week filling out a ton of forms and gathering documents – everything from our pets’ vaccination records to car registrations to insurance documents to clearances, only to name a few. I imagine the next couple of weeks will hold more of the same as we still haven’t checked everything off the list.

We heard from our adoption agency that our application has been accepted. We’ll be mailing our signed contract back to the agency shortly. Adopting from the Congo is a little different from some of the other countries because one’s dossier does not have to be complete before the search for a child begins. What this means is that we’ll continue working on completing our paperwork and our home study while the adoption agency is looking for a referral. We still don’t have all the adoption “lingo” down, but I think that’s correct. We’re told that the time frame could be fairly quick, but we’re trusting God for his perfect timing – whether that’s four months or twenty months. We know that He has a plan for us.

This week began to pray faithfully not only for the child that God has for us, but for the birth mother. We’re not sure how to pray. Is the baby in womb? If yes, we’re praying for the health of the birth mom, for a peace in her decision making, for a healthy delivery, etc. If our baby’s been born, we’re praying that she/he is getting enough food, for his or her health, and most of all, that the baby is being loved by someone until being joined with his or her forever family. Please pray with us as we continue on this journey.

Hope & George

The Beginning of Our Journey

Well, here we are.....how do we begin? Let me start by saying that I can't believe we're at this point!


For months now, God's been "ripening" us for this process. Nearly a year and a half ago, I felt like God was laying the idea of adoption on my heart. It was so CRAZY, I couldn't even speak it! We are so blessed with four biological children, I couldn't imagine why God would lead us in this direction. In March of 2009, we attended a Steven Curtis Chapman concert. Of course, he spoke of his own adoption triumphs and tragedies. For weeks after, I could barely sleep...still afraid to even breathe the word "adoption" to George.
Finally, after a few weeks, we were talking one evening and I said to him, "There are two things that God's been laying on my heart. One is adoption and the other is short-term mission work." I braced myself for the "Are you out of your mind?" question. Instead, his reply was simple. He said, "Me too". WOW!! I couldn't imagine how this could or would all happen, so we remained fairly silent until a few months ago, but God was not letting us out of this!


We prayed for signs. When we got those signs, we prayed for "bigger signs", still unable to phathom why we would have this burden and how God would accomplish it all.


We still don't have all the answers (the finances of it are daunting), but we know that beginning the adoption process for the Democratic Republic of Congo is the first step. The application is ready to be mailed in the morning. The kids are sooo excited. Hallie cried happy tears as she called and told our family members that we were beginning this process. I'm sure they're thinking that we're crazy....we think it sounds crazy....crazy and right and wonderful all at the same time!


If we were eloquent with words, we would say something like this couple....details are different, but our hearts are very similar.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH73KHN_nUw&feature=related

Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows what we know, and holds us responsible to act.Prov. 24:12


Please pray with us as and for us as we begin this journey to giving an orphan a forever home.
Hope & George