More Good News

Thanks to Lizzie and Kris Wegener for praying with me on Sunday out on the sidewalk at the Moore's house. I was lamenting to them that twins or a very young sibling group are so unlikely that I was just trying not to hope too hard for it. I explained that there was one family in line ahead of us that was specifically waiting for 2 babies. So, they decided to just pray for that family to get siblings soon, so we could too when it's our turn. That family got a referral for 2 siblings today!!

Praise God. AWA certainly seems to be handing out referrals quicker and quicker.

As far as I can tell from our yahoo group database, there isn't anyone else in front of us specifically waiting for only twins. So - PLLLLEEEEEEAAAAAAASE keep praying that twins show up for us! We will, of course be thrilled with 1 referral, but twins would be awesome. We have 2 great boy names that we want to use :-)

Grant!!

There has been all kinds of good news this month and it feels like we can actually get excited about a baby.

The first news was that our agency has been meeting their goal for referrals, which we were doubtful of this past spring. They have met is easily for the last few months and expect to continue if not increase their referral. So, it looks like we'll get a referral by the end of the year. This is where our agency sends us information on a particular baby and asks us if we will adopt them. Keep praying for a miracle set of twins!! It's SO unlikely, but we'd be thrilled.

Second news is that we received a grant from Shaoshannah's Hope!! Praise God. We are so grateful because with the rising costs of travel, etc. our adoption is going to be above our original fundraising goal. God is so good to provide.

In the meantime, fall is coming quickly, which means the start of college group at our church - which we're both very involved in, and all the men's and women's programs at church - which we're also very involved in. This keeps us busy and invested in life as it currently stands for us.

Specific prayer requests:
Health and safety for our baby
That a couple of sets of twins would come (there is at least one couple in line ahead of us that is specifically waiting for twins)
Travel - we REALLY want to visit Ethiopia for some length of time before picking up our baby. Pray that we would be able to and that we would be content with the time God gives us.

Summer

So, I haven't posted for awhile and I thought I'd just do a big post on what we've been up to for the past few months.

Joseph and I have been enjoying our summer freedom from school and weekend ministry commitments. It has flown by and we have 3 months down in our wait, and 4 or 5 to go before we get a referral.

May had the wedding of Joseph's sister and his best friend to keep us busy. Hannah and Lucas now live just down the drive from us in our same apartment complex and we've started doing breakfast with them once a week (Lucas and I insist there IS hope for the Baylys' aversion to mornings).

During the month of June, Joseph did his traditional two week cross-country driving trip to record conferences for work. (Bloomington - Richmond, VA - Bloomington - Denver, CO - Bloomington) He was able to see the mountains in Colorado, but was actually inside a convention center for three days straight before driving home.

I hitched a ride with him to VA to visit my college roomate Sarah Day. The idea was for me to work, but after Thai food and ice cream I spent my 'work' day sleeping under the production room tables. I did have a great time with Sarah though. After four years of this random rendevous in Richmond, we've gotten to know the city pretty well. This year included wading in the river for me and falling in for Sarah and Sarah's keys, a walk around Maymont, the infamous Thai Food and ice cream (not recommended), Careytown, and a movie.

I was home for another wedding ('tis the season) while Joseph was in Colorado. Then we both went up to my hometown of Pardeeville, WI for - you guessed it - a wedding. We also made it down to Madison for some sqeeky fresh cheese curds, got together with the entire Healy clan, visited my Grandma, and reconnected with some of our favorite long-lost friends.

A few days later Joseph's boss flew us out to Lake George in the Adorondacks. Needless to say - that was amazing. I was also supposed to do 'work' for the company on that trip, so I made Joseph a sandwhich once. Other than that, we went hiking, kayaking, out to dinner, boating, sat in the sun, and watched the 4th of July fireworks from a boat on Lake George.

Most recently I had an awesome weekend in Arlington Heights, IL getting together with two of my college roommates. The three of us hadn't been together for a couple of years, so it was wonderful to see each other again. Within an hour of seeing each other, we were right back in each other's lives. We had a LOT of fun too :-) So, next year we're hoping Mimi, Kyle, Lynn, and Sarah can join us and we'll have a downright reunion.

Summer's not over yet, so we're heading up to Sawyer, Michigan this weekend for the Taylor family reunion. Four houses, 1 hotel, a beach, 60+ family members . . . good times.

WooooooHooooooooo

I had a bit of a shock yesterday when I finally opened up an envelope with a check for our adoption in it. It had laid unopened on the table for a few days. When I finally opened it I was speechless and immobile for a good 3 minutes (that's how I generally express extreme emotion :-) Our fundraising goal has been met! Yep, you read that correctly. Praise God for the tremendous generosity of His people.

Stepping out in faith and watching God provide has been an incredible thing. I can't remember being so encouraged in anything before and so humbly thankful to everyone for their love, support, and sacrifice for us and our baby. I'm blown away by God's goodness and faithfulness.

When I begin to get discouraged by the wait and fear that we will never reach the end - God gives me some act of goodness to encourage me and remind me that He IS good, His timing is perfect and He can be trusted! So, we continue to wait on Him and trust that He is working in our hearts to prepare us to be parents.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you all!!!!

9 months

Joseph and I have been in the actual process of adoption for about 9 months now. However, unlike pregnancy, adoption has no 'due date.' We could have another 7-11 months to go. It's rather strange waiting for something indefinitely. We just gear up for the long haul and trust that God's timing is perfect.

We haven't been posting much recently because there isn't much going on now. The next step for us is getting a phone call from our agency saying 'we have a baby for you.' So, for now, we just wait and hope and trust that that day will indeed come.

Grants and waiting

Hello everyone. You may have noticed that it's been pretty quiet on the blog and that's because our paperwork did safely make it to Ethiopia and now our major prep-work is done!!

Apparently I can't get enough of paperwork because now I've been applying for adoption grants. I must say though, that it feels quite unofficial and wrong to send in just plain old copies of tax statements, reference letters, and the like, with not one special seal on them. I keep asking myself, "is this allowed?" There are a number of places that offer adoption grants. Nearly all are based on financial need and the majority are only for professing Christians, which means we are eligible! We plan on applying for the following and maybe a couple of others.

Shaohannah's Hope (Stephen Curtis Chapman's program)
LYDIA Fund (John Piper's Church)
Sea of Faces Foundation
National Adoption Foundation

We'd appreciate your prayers that we make it up to our fundraising goal.

And the winner is . . .

Karen Wiersma is the lucky winner of our quilt raffle. Lizzie Wegener came over to our apartment after soccer on Sunday and drew the name from the pile of cards on the floor. Thanks to all who participated. The raffle brought in over $500 and thanks to my mother for making and donating this gorgeous quilt!

Karen and her husband Bob were my Sunday school teachers in the good ol' town of Pardeeville, Wisconsin. They started teaching my class when we I was in Kindergarden and couldn't get enough of us, teaching our class nearly every year through high school. Joseph and I were even in the same class for a couple of years. The Wiersmas filled my head with more scripture than basically anyone, having us memorize verses, then the books of the Bible, then the ten commandment chapter and rewarding us with yearly pizza trips. I remember loading up their minivan with our class of 10 and singing 'great green gobs of greasy, grimy gopher guts . . .' I also remember having contests with Christian Neef to see who could eat the most pizza . . . and always trying to dump the entire container of hot pepper flakes on someone's slice while they stepped away from the table.

We never got sick of each other and always counted it a blessing that they were our teachers, which is saying something! It wasn't until I moved away from Pardeeville that I realized how unique it was to have great Sunday school teachers, not to mention the same teachers for nearly 13 years! So, thank you Bob and Karen! We don't take you for granted. We love you lots and thank you for the HUGE role you played in training us in the Bible and teaching us how to be godly.