D is for Dossier Day!!: A photo adventure!

It was been a wonderful adoption week!  On Tuesday someone from the USCIS said that they would expedite our immigration approval for adoption and then on Wednesday they wrote me back to say that they had completed processing our application. We were approved!

I was so excited, I emailed my agency to say I was approved and that I just needed to wait for the notice to come in the mail.  Within 10 min I got a phone call from them saying, you don't need to wait just print off the copy they emailed you!!  This approval was the last thing I needed before I could submit my dossier (which is the last step before we get our first travel dates.)  My agency and i had been working over the last 2 weeks to make sure I had everything else gathered and notarized (thank you Sarah!!).  So last night Sarah notarized the cover sheet for the immigration approval and I organized everything I needed to get apostiled.  It kind of felt like the night before the first day of school...I packed Ishmael's diaper bag and backpack and paper clipped all my papers together.  Checking a few times to make sure I had everything!

But as excited as I was the night before, i didn't sleep well so Ishmael and I got off to a late start.  We had a crazy day, which I documented with photos, but NOTHING could waylay my joy and excitement in getting to get this documents sent!

Before we left I went upstairs and had Deb take a picture of Ishmael and I, all ready to go with our documents in hand.

Then we drove to the capital building, so we could visit the notary office where they would appostile our documents (basically put an official state of nebraska seal on them).  We circled quite a few times before we got a parking spot.  Here Ishmael is, we are happy and parked.

Here is Ishmael climbing up the steps to the capital building.

Here is another view of the building so you can see the sower on top!

Once inside, we ran into our friend Darren, which was a huge blessing, he played with Ishmael while I was told 2 of my documents would not work :(.  But like I said, NOTHING could stop by joy or excitement of being at the point of mailing these documents!!!  The woman was really nice and helpful, she wasn't as hopeful as I was that EVERYTHING was going to work out just fine and I was going to mail off my documents today!  She told me that if she couldn't get ahold of the right person, I might have to wait until Feb 2, to which I said, I can't do that and low and behold, she made a phone call to the county clerks office and the person she needed was there!  So Ishmael and I left her with our documents and walked over to the state building to get a replacement license for my home-study agency.  

This counter was just Ishmael's height!  (At the department of Health and Human services, this woman is calling the person that needs to come help us.)  So we hung out in the hall and waited...and took some photos and played with toys.  Ishmael did a great job.  We even ran into an old friend of mine from junior high! (what a fun day!)

 
















With the new document in hand we headed out of the state building to walk back to the capital.  We walked past the scooters and I bought Ishmael a chocolate milk.  I told him we couldn't have it until we got back to the capital.  
We had fun walking and even worked on counting, by

counting the steps we took up all the flights of stairs!  Once we walked inside Ishmael asked for his "bilk" what a smart boy, he didn't forget for a second!  I made a wrong turn and we ended up in the touristy part of the capital so I let Ishmael walk around drinking his Milk and i took some photos.

Then we went back to the notary office.  I was very happy that the woman had not left for lunch as it was close to 1230.  We gave her our new form and I paid for all the apostles. (I feel blessed apostiles in our state are only 10.00 per item...I have heard some states can be almost 50!)

Ishmael was very tired of waiting....he took off his boots and his socks and was starting to run around :)

But then she gave me my documents, here they are, I starting laying them out on the counter but ran out of space...so I just piled the rest on top.

I got Ishmael to put on all his clothes and his coat and backpack, again, and we started to walk out.  I treated us to a lunch in the capital cafeteria.  (I apologize that I didn't get a picture of that.  We split the special which was fried chicken (boneless) mashed potatoes and corn.  MMM.)  Next we went to Office Max to fed-ex the "dossier" to my agency, where they will add some of their own documents and send it off to Bulgaria!

Ishmael got bored and played by the carts!

And here it is the culmination of months and months of paperwork, meetings, notarizing, doctors visits, employer references, personal references, fingerprints, fingerprints, more fingerprints, background check, another background check, another copy of the same background check, visiting the court house, the state building, immigration services and the capital and here I am holding it, the holy grail, the DOSSIER!!!!!!

The long overdue pancake feed thank you!

Well it has been a week since the pancake feed.  I don't know why it has taken me so long to tell you what a wonderful day it was!  I felt like I was at my wedding because I was able to see so many friends from different parts of my life all in one place.  I really enjoyed getting to walk around and talk to everyone.  I THINK I only missed getting to talk to one family.  I also met a few people for the first time which I thought was really cool.  I learned that there are people following  our blog that I have never met....what a blessing to know that more people have been moved by Simon's story than just my friend group.  It was a huge blessing to see friends that we hadn't seen for years.  The food was pretty good too!

My friend Andrea had the idea to throw us a pancake feed and she did a wonderful job.  Her whole family helped out which was very cool because Andrea and I grew up going to church together as children...so it warmed my heart to have her family involved.  She made us a nice bucket to collect money and collect donations we did....the total from the event was $1740.57.  Now, the change was important as I learned that one little boy was told about Simon before he came to the pancake feed with his family so he got his piggy bank and emptied it out for our son.  That story warmed my soul.

 

So thank you EVERYONE who helped get things set up for this event and EVERYONE else for coming out to it.  It was great seeing you there.  I feel very blessed to have so many people that care about orphans, adoption and our family.  I really can't say that enough, I believe that we have been placed in the community we are in, for this time and for this adoption.  We wouldn't be able to do this without the support of generous friends and family members.  THANK YOU.  Thank you for being a blessing to our family and to our son.

Please keep praying for Simon.  Please pray also for the other children in his orphanage to find families and for the children that do have familes that they will make it home into their new mother's arms.

Here are some pictures from the pancake feed.

Andrea and Ben and Kasey and others enjoying the festivities 

Thank you ladies for having fun while helping out!

And here is the crew.  Thank you SO MUCH.  You did a great job and you looked so good doing it!

It's Not Just About the Money

I have been writing thank you notes lately to all of those who have been supporting our adoption financially. I am a little late in starting, so if you haven't gotten one yet....please know that I appreciate your gift and you will get a thank you (If you don't, I am so sorry and I do thank you!).

I try to convey in these notes how much a donation to our adoption means. And it isn't really just about the money, because the donation says so much more. I don't think I can really express everything it says to me. I try to wrap it up in one word called "support." But I would like to take the time to list the words your donations have spoken into my heart:

we believe in you,
we love your son,
we love you,
we don't think you are crazy,
we love what you are doing,
we want to be a part of your adventure,
the stories of these children have touched our hearts.
we are praying for you.

These are also wonderful words of encouragement to my soul. My well is emotionally dry right now. I can't seem to weep anymore, unless I am standing in front of my church :), but I love to hear that others still do. I am awed again when my words, when the stories from this orphanage shock someone into action; when words of the horrible truth strike their hearts and bring tears to their eyes, I am comforted. It's relieving to know that I am not alone, that I am not the only one who is carrying this burden. There are more people every day who are broken for the orphans of the world. It makes my brokenness seem appropriate, valid and right because others are feeling it too. So your donation also says,

you are not alone,
we are here with you,
the Lord has heard you,
He is for you,
we are with you,
you are not alone.
Simon will not be forsaken.
Your pain matters.
His hurt matters.
HIS LIFE MATTERS.

The outpouring of financial gifts has meant so much to us. But kind words and broken hearts mean so much as well. Some of the sweetest, small gifts have blessed me as much as the large ones. It has reminded me that we give out of what we have. I had a couple different experiences this week when people emptied their pockets after I told them about Simon. They just gave me all that they had. It touched me, deeply.

I have friends who are helping me raise this money. My friends Ben and Andrea are throwing a pancake feed this weekend to fundraise for us. It will be held at the Northern Lighthouse Church (6131 N. 14th St) from 10am to 1pm. Please come out if you live around Lincoln and eat some pancakes and throw some money in the bucket for Simon.

If you don't live around Lincoln, we have some new friends that are helping us with an online auction. From February 1st through the 7th you can go online and bid on items and all the money will go toward our adoption. Here is the website: treasuresinhiddenplaces.blogspot.com
(They will be referring to Simon as Peyton because that was his name on Reece's Rainbow).

Thanks, friends and when I say thanks I mean, I love you and appreciate your hearts so much!

by faith

I have spent a few days thinking about our adoption process through the lens of hebrews 11. I do not pretend that my experience is something to compare to the great men and women of faith in the word but I am hoping that this exercise will help my faith. So here goes....here is our adoption "by faith".

"Now faith is confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see." Hebrews 11:1

It was by faith, when we learned the truth of the condition of children left in their cribs, that we said we would adopt.

By faith we poured over files of children we could have loved and selected our son. By faith we believe that those we are leaving behind will also find their families. (oh God please help my unbelief)

By faith we faced our fears of pain, heartache, inadequacy, financial ruin, relational loss And said yes to tenaciously pursuing the adoption of a child who may or may not love us back. By faith we agree to love a child we have never met regardless of the condition of his mind, his ability to ever talk, walk, or gain independence from us because we have no idea what he can or will do.

By faith we believe love can heal his broken body. By faith we say, whatever time we are given with Simon is a gift.

By faith we trust the lord to provide for us financially to both adopt and also to care for this child's medical needs. We trust that the Lord will continue to provide us with emotional support through the believers around us, both family and friends.

For it was by faith that believers before me brought children home and began to watch them be healed by the Lord and by their love. It was by faith that Susana brought Katie home. It was by faith Stephanie brought Lina home. It was by faith that Grace brought Samantha home. It was by faith that Elizabeth and Tom brought Noah, Moses and Jacob into their family. It is by faith that those who have been adopted into God's family reach out to bring the lonely, broken, unloved, forgotten children of the world into their family. Through faith these believers continue to trust the Lord to provide for their physical, emotional and spiritual needs. By faith they watch the Lord bring love, peace, goodness, patience and wholeness into not only their homes but into their children's hearts.


By faith I trust the Lord to help mend and maintain relationships that are strained and tested by our radical obedience to adopt a special needs child. By faith I believe he will make all things new.


By faith I believe Simon is my son. By faith I pray that we will one day meet him face to face. Oh how we long to bring him home. By faith we believe God has called him into our family, by faith his brother waits to meet him, to dance with him and play catch with him.


By faith we believe this process will not bring our family to shame nor break our home. By faith we hope to show those that doubt this process that God is in it. That God is for us...and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.


Mark 9:24 I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief.

Oh God.....please help my unbelief.

While we wait.

Waiting. Waiting is hard because when you are waiting most times you have no control. You don't know when the waiting will be over. Sometimes it is hard to keep yourself focused while you wait. For me and this adoption is it also hard for me to keep myself relaxed while I wait. There has been so much to do initially with paperwork and meetings and appointments to get the home-study done. So much busyness getting the commitment documents notarized and apolstilled and checks mailed that now, I feel like I am just twiddling my thumbs. I have been working on my thank-you notes and we had tons to do over christmas, and today and yesterday I have been attacking the ice that plagues our parking lot but as far as the adoption, mostly I just wait.

People keep asking how the adoption is going or what is going on with it and I really don't have much to say right now. I always say the fundraising is going really well....because it is. I think I might be at the point of really believing God is going to pull this whole thing off. I guess it takes about 13,000.00 for me to get to that point :) I didn't do much "fundrasing" this christmas, it was mostly just walking through open doors to talk about my adoption and watching as the Lord opened hearts and handed us money. It is really an amazing thing to watch people's hearts break for something that has broken your own heart and something that clearly breaks God's heart.

So where are we in the process? Well we have mailed off our home-study and other paperwork to the USCIS. (United States Center for Immigration Services) along with an 890.00 check :) They have cashed it so I am hoping that means they are working on our documents?? Normally this process can take between 60 and 90 days. When I mailed my documents in my agency, Lifeline, said that other parents had been hearing back sooner rather than later. I also requested that it be expedited, and a picture of Simon along with his age and weight should help them see my urgency. They will send us a request for us to go to Omaha to get fingerprinted while they are processing our paperwork and after we get that done our agency will help us finish up our dossier documents. After our dossier gets to Bulgaria, gets translated and gets through the legal system there we will get our first travel dates.

While waiting I have taken to Facebook--I watch the other moms' statuses in the Reece's Rainbow group and another group specific to special needs adoptions in Bulgaria. I also look for blogs to read from families that are already home. I pour over my favorite blogs from parents who have children home from Pleven. I take comfort and joy in cyber-ly surrounding myself with others who are going through or have gone through the same process. But there is a delicate balance. I have to watch my emotions carefully. As I try to fill my Simon void online, I still have to function as a mother, a wife, a business manager, a worship leader and a community dweller.

There are moments when I am keenly aware of the pent up sadness inside of me. I have wondered if I need to apologize to my church because each time I lead worship I end up bawling and sometimes I am unable to sing. Often when I am driving with just Ishmael in the car I will begin to tear up. These seem to be times when either my emotional guard goes down or my spirit is so powerful that is overcomes the wall I have around my emotions. This is also a delicate balance, I should probably let myself have more emotional breakdowns. I should probably allow myself to think about Simon in his crib sometimes; however right now there is nothing I can do to get him out of that crib but pray. Can I have urgency without being an emotional wreck? Well, I am trying.

I was at a concert once and ran into an old acquaintance; it took me a minute but then I remembered how we knew one another. I asked him about our mutual friend, and while smiling, he said that he got sick and died. I said, "are you serious?" And he said, "yes I am." Then I asked, "then why are you smiling" and he answered, "so that I won't cry". I didn't understand this until I also reached a point in my grief when I could talk about horrendous loss with the same "inappropriate" facial expression. I can very plainly and matter-of-factly speak about the horrors of children in abusive orphanages, of an 8 year old future son of mine who is 18 pounds. And I am sure people are taken aback. I forget how shocking the truth can be the first time you hear it. Because 7 months into this....it is just the truth...it is just how it is....I wish I could say it wasn't.

So while I wait, I want to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, for your words of support and for your monetary contributions. Having the support of others who also believe that we are doing God's will to bring an orphan into our home is huge. I can't tell you how blessed I feel to have the friends and family that I have in my life. This adoption has shown me how surrounded we are by believers from all churches in our city, who believe that the Lord loves the orphan, who believe that the will of God has no borders and who believe their money is God's money.

THANK YOU!!!!