The Countdown Begins!

On July 11th, our facilitator told us that our dossier (paperwork)  has been translated and submitted to the Ukrainian authorities!!!!  If there are no problems with it, this begins the countdown (which for other families has typically been ~ 8 weeks) until the first appointment in Kiev!!!   Based on info from others ahead of us in the process, it seems we should hear something from the Ukainian authorities after about 5 - 6 weeks from submission of dossier (for us that will be ~middle August).  Once we hear back, we fasten our seatbelts because then the appointment in Kiev for most others was just 2 1/2 weeks after the news!!  Not a long time to get it all together. This is all assuming, of course, that our documents meet the approval of the authorities.:)  If these dates work out, we hope to travel the first week of September.  In my perfect world we would already be there, right now, and back in time for school to start!;)  As Weejen said, though, "since when does our timing line up with God's timing?"  OK...well....hardly ever. :-)  But I'd rather have the timing of the One who created the Universe than my limited understanding!

There are several families there now adopting and making us jealous- wishing we were there with them! Ha!  But we are happy to have their experience going before us and making lists so we know what to bring (and what not to bring) and what to do (and not do:).

Please pray for us in this process because there are still many hurdles to overcome.  Please also pray for the Williams and Rettger families who are wading through difficulties in various stages of the adoption process.

Regarding fundraising, we still have to raise about $12,000.  An amazing friend offered the services of her husband who has had much experience fundraising.  He not only has much experience fundraising, but he actually likes it!  He not only replied to us in just one day, but helped update and condense our support letter and gave us several tips.  Two friends who have also adopted internationally within the past 5 years both said that their primary route of fundraising was their support letter.  Although we have emailed our support letter to several people and have it on our blog we realized that there are many people on our Christmas card list who we left hanging!  When we sent our last Christmas letter we had not yet located our missing son!  Only two weeks after Christmas, we found him!  So although we are in contact with some of our Christmas card friends and family by facebook or email, there are several who probably have NO IDEA we found our son and are attempting to bring him home! 

Thanks for reading our update and for your support whether by prayer, encouragement, interest, finances or all of the above. 

Mission Accomplished!

We did it!!!  Our dossier has made it to Kiev!!!  After working tirelessly throughout June getting documents together, repaired, requested and received, we got them all notarized on Wed, June 20th!  Our next, much more intimidating step, was to get each and every document that had been notarized “apostilled”.   Never heard of that?  Neither had I, so I will attempt to explain.  In a nutshell, an apostille is a very fancy certificate looking document (at least in FL) which confirms that the notary who signed your document really is a notary.   If the same notary notarized 15 different documents, they still have to have a separate apostille on EACH document…to the tune of $10 per document in FL.   It must be obtained at the State level, which for us is in Tallahassee.  After my call to the courier went unanswered on Wednesday….I decided to hop in the car and take them MYSELF to Tallahassee!  On Thursday, June 21, my oldest daughter and I road-tripped on a four hour drive to the Secretary of State’s office.   In sorting through my documents in the parking lot, I discovered that the notary stamp on the warranty deed was old (from the date we purchased the house!)…and wondered whether that would be able to be Apostilled.    My suspicions were confirmed when the lady at the counter pulled that particular document out and said, “this is a copy, I can’t apostille it.”  Hmmmm…. We had just obtained it two weeks prior.   They called the local court house who said they couldn’t help us since our deed was not registered in their county.  I was told I needed to return to my county and obtain the deed and then mail it to them, which would add at least 2 weeks to the process.  L They typically ask those who mail their documents in to expect their document s in 7-10 business days.  If you just show up at the office, though, in 15 minutes you are outta there!:)  So show up we did.  So, I gave her my stack of 35 documents she COULD apostille and sat in the waiting area and PRAYED!  I have seen God do amazing things in this process, so I hadn’t given up hope.  I reasoned through it all as I prayed…we had just obtained that deed two weeks prior from the CPA who confirmed we lived there.  If I drove all the way back to my county court house and obtained it, it would look exactly the same.  It is a copy.  So when my new friend returned with my huge stack of 35 documents, I presented my idea.  Could we have it verified as a true and exact copy (as I had on two other documents) and notarized in town and bring it back?   She said that would be fine!!  But where in Tallahassee would I find someone who would type up and print out a document for me to certify the deed as a true and exact copy???  SO, still hoping and praying, I drove to the local bank where I had just opened an account in my town the DAY before, having NO idea I would need notary services on this day.   (But God knew!!:)  Unlike so many other banks, this bank still offers free notary services to its members.   I returned to the bank in Tallahassee, and explained my situation.  The amazing notary at our bank not only looked up the deed info we needed online, he typed up a document, notarized it and excitedly sent us on our way back to the Secretary of State office!!!!!  He was truly a Godsend!    In less than an hour, we returned to the Secretary of State’s office announcing to our new friends, “We’re baaaack!”J   Our new friend went to work apostilling the last and final document and we were SET!  We raced it all to the Easy Mail office just before they closed and sent it via DHL to Kiev, Ukraine!!!  Expecting it to take weeks to arrive there, I was shocked to learn that it would only take 3 business days!   It actually went out on Friday morning and I tracked our dossier all weekend.  It travelled to Atlanta on Friday, Cincinnati on Saturday, Germany on Sunday and made it to Kiev on MONDAY MORNING by 9 am our time!   It is now in the hands of our facilitator and will be translated and then submitted to the authorities for approval after July 9^th,, as they are on a break until then.  After that, we’ll wait for the reply as to whether they need more information or whether we’ll be invited to travel.   If there are no problems to correct, we will wait another 30 working days to be invited to travel, then 3 more weeks after that to actually travel.  SO, it appears that best case scenario we’ll be travelling mid September.   We would love to be surprised with an earlier travel date, but are attempting to be flexible and open to God’s perfect timing!

Fundraising:

On the subject of our fundraising, we still have $13,000 to go.  Our last garage sale was not nearly as wonderful or productive as the first two as we have now entered the zone of the huge Florida summer rain storms.  We were only able to stay open for 2 hours on the first day, but were pleasantly surprised by the traffic way out in the middle of nowhere!   The second day was more productive as we were able to stay open much later, but we pushed it too close to the rain storm and got WET; we workers and several of our items as well.  All in all, though, we made more money that if we had cancelled it, and made some great memories with our Pastor, my friend Jinger, the amazing Teens from our Youth group, a friend from my daughter’s school , and several awesome and amazing Church and school friends who gave of their time and effort to help us.  Eventually, the memory of us racing around like maniacs in the pouring rain transporting clothing stacks to shelter will make a funny story! :)

My awesome Sister-in-law, Michelle, is hosting a bake sale in West Virginia on July 4th to help raise money for our adoption.  We are so grateful for amazing and loving family and friends as we travel this path! 

Another Not So Ordinary Garage Sale!

Sincere apologies for neglecting to update this blog in a MONTH!  The month of May is like a raging river in the realm of the home school Mom.  I have decided it is the craziest month of the entire year with Band Concerts, Dance recitals, Piano recitals, Homeschool conventions, Tutor Training, etc, etc, etc.  It rushes by like a blast of wind and the next thing you know it’s June!  So, here we are…June.

Regarding our paperwork progress, we finally received the LONG awaited (7 ½ weeks) Immigration approval to adopt internationally!!!  The i600a became the I-171H and arrived in our mailbox on June 2^nd!!!!  I literally jumped up and down as I showed each and every family member our letter!!  I felt like Tigger!  We are now awaiting a few more documents to complete our “dossier” (the packet of paperwork which will go to Ukraine)!  We would LOVE to get it sent in the next few weeks- please join us in prayer for that!

Regarding our fundraising: 

I wrote this on May 9, 2012, after our second Garage sale which was on May 4 & 5:  If you are short on time, please don’t miss “Our Biggest Miracle: Beds For Sale”- It is awesome!!!

Yet Another Astonishing Garage Sale

God brought amazing helpers, sweet, sweet shoppers and delicious food.  He IS the defender of the Fatherless, after all, so we shouldn’t be surprised that He is at work to get our boy home!   If any of you are looking on & following our adventure and thinking, “I would love to do that…. but I couldn’t.”  Well, we can’t either, but God can.  It has been unbelievably exhilarating to get “out of the boat and walk on water” and watch Him work miracles to unite this little boy with us, his family.  It is a scary leap of faith, but with God all things are possible!

Please accept my apologies for the delay in updating this blog.   First I’d like to thank our gracious hosts, Greg and Kathy H.   They allowed our “stuff” to take over their garage for a week, allowed workers and their kids open access to their home for three days.  Kathy was in it through thick and thin, just like Rebecca the weekend prior, and assisted me tirelessly for three straight LONG, HOT days.  She remarked that it was much like a mission trip, and she would know after two mission trips to Haiti.   At least we didn’t have to sleep in tents with tarantulas!  In addition to Kathy, my other Home school Mom friends, Tricia, Jinger, Kelly S., Cheryl,  Jenny, Suzanne, Roseanne, Shannon H & Shannon M., Kathy & Sherry P helped in every aspect of our sale from sorting, pricing, making signs, placing signs, selling and even buying some for themselves!:)   It was HARD, it was HOT, things were HEAVY and we were all tired, but through it all we made memories to last a lifetime.  These Ladies gave sacrificially of their time and energy, which is just as much of a gift to us, if not more so, than financial support.  We single income home school families may be broke, but we’ll make up for it in love and care for one another!:)    If any of you home school and need to find a community of like-minded Moms and kids to “do life” with…find a Classical Conversations group near you.   You won’t be sorryJ

Our amazing God encounters:

Food:  A dear sweet friend, Cheryl, from our home school group brought LUNCH for us, not once but twice, just out of the kindness of her heart!  That was AMAZING!  And delicious!  Thank you Cheryl!!

New Friends:  So many precious people came by our Yard sale, to wish us well, round up their sale or just hand us money and generally encourage us!!  One man, tattooed and a bit scary looking quite honestly, came up, handed me money, said, “Tell V., ‘Welcome to America!’, and walked away.  He nearly made me cry.  So many people rounded up their sale or after looking around when they didn’t find anything they really wanted they handed me money anyway.  It was an amazing demonstration of the kindness of strangers yet again.  I was moved to tears several times. We honestly didn’t expect to do as well this weekend because the area is not as affluent as the area we were in last weekend.  But, we did even better!:)  Have you ever noticed that those who have the least sometimes give the most?

Russian adopted kids: Nearing the end of our third day, as we were packing it all up, a family with four children pulled up.  It turned out that the adult with them was their Aunt who was keeping the kids for her sister. Three of the kids who were with her were adopted from Russia!!!  The oldest daughter, ~17?, gave me her email address and offered to help us translate when we get V. home!  What a blessing!  

Musical talent:  A young man shopping seemed interested in “our story” and shared with me that his sister had adopted several kids and home schools her kids, too.   In addition, he is a performer at Disney in one of our FAVORITE bands!  My husband will be SO jealous that I met him and he didn’t!  My hilarious friends and I agreed we should go hear him play and scream from the back, “HIIIII!!!!!!  Remember us from the YARD SALE?!!??!”   We have entirely too much fun!!

Our Biggest Miracle- “Beds for Sale”:  At about 1 pm on Saturday, when Kathy and I were having dreamy thoughts of being finished for the weekend, a friend of hers decided to donate a twin bed with frame, headboard, mattress and box springs.   While we are honored that a stranger to us would donate such a great item, Kathy and I were SOO hot, and SOOOO tired.   Furniture had not sold well all weekend, not even a hint of a buyer for the desks and bookshelves we’d shoved and lugged all over.  So the thought of MORE huge furniture to move in our exhausted state didn’t thrill us.   I requested they wait until my husband could pick up the bed later in the week for our next yard sale, but they just wanted to get it out of their garage.  So our generous donor rented a U Haul and pulled up out front.  As he started to unload the first piece, he said, “If anyone buys this in the next 5 minutes, I’ll deliver!”  So Kathy said, “Please, God, send a buyer for the beds!”  And I looked to the sky and repeated her plea.  I walked back over toward the toy area, where sales had slowed, and said, “Too bad we only have two shoppers now...”  Then, I spun around, spotted a young man with tattoos behind me and said jokingly, “You don’t want to buy a bed, do you?”  And he said, “Where are they?  I’ll take a look!”  And he BOUGHT THE BED!!!!  WOW!!!  YAY GOD!!!!   About an hour later he returned with his sweet wife, who handed me more money and told me how excited she was for us.  She also shared that she had just been telling her husband that they needed a twin bed in their spare room.  And here they got it….delivered and all!:)

It was an amazing weekend and I am so grateful that God has taken us down this often difficult path in order to watch Him work miracles!!

Not your Ordinary Garage Sale!

It was no ordinary Yard Sale!  God showed up, more than once, not only in the faces of my sweet selfless friends, but also in the actions of complete strangers!  The donations- WOW! Church Friends, Homeschool enrichment (CC) friends, old and new CC friends, Weejen’s work friends, and even several complete strangers (friends of friends) donated loads and loads of items to our sale.  Thank you all SOOOO much!  

My amazing husband has driven all over Orlando picking up items for our sales and we are still not finished.   He made me cry Saturday as I followed him home from the back breaking job of lifting and moving the furniture that didn’t sell last weekend.  I took his picture at a stop light

 as I said to myself, “this is the man who said, ‘Are you insane?!’ when I suggested adoption back in 2005.  This is the man who heard clearly from God in 2010 that we needed to do this and through his obedience to carry it out has had a change of heart.   He prays nightly for our sweet V., that we would get him home soon!   He has driven all over the place, sweated and toiled, on top of his 80 hour work week, to get this weekend accomplished.   He is my hero. 

I pondered how adoption is known as a “paper pregnancy”.  Rather than morning sickness, I have had loads and loads of paperwork, intrusive questions and a home study to complete.  Rather than back pain from carrying a baby around inside, I had back pain from lifting furniture.  Rather than lack of sleep due to discomfort, I have had lack of sleep due to stress and uncertainty.  But the poor adoptive Dads….their load is MUCH greater than birth Dads, in my opinion, especially if there are fundraisers involved.   Adoptive Dad’s are suffering though the paper pregnancy right alongside of adoptive Moms….sometimes even more.  Thank you Adoptive Dads everywhere- you ROCK!

That just reminded me of the ultimate Adoptive Father, our Father God.  “….when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into Your hearts, crying out, “Abba Father!  Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”  Galatians 4:4   That puts our lifting , toiling and sweating into perspective. 

Hard Stuff: As I told the kids when we started down this path, I can’t think of a single instance where God has called someone to something and added, “Oh, (Moses, Joseph, Paul, Peter….) this will be GREAT….palm trees, white sand, aquamarine water, lawn chairs, refreshing drinks….you’ll love it.”  Actually, everyone I can think of you was called by God was called to a very difficult task, but I don’t think any of them would have traded their hard experiences for a fleeting resort stay (not there’s anything wrong with that, says the lady whose husband works for a resort;)  There is much blessing in “Doing Hard Things” for God!

Friends beyond compare. This was a difficult weekend.  Several friends from our home school group WORKED HARD to help us.  It was hours and 3 days of hot, difficult and occasionally stressful work.  They went WAY above and beyond the “call of duty” and I cannot begin to express my gratitude.  I chose to send them a separate thank you to them and to leave the LONG list out of this blog post so as not to read like an Oscar speech for those of you that don’t know these amazing women and even a husband of one!   I was amazed, over and over, how my friends came to my aid.  I absolutely couldn’t have done it without them!

The Kindness of Strangers:  In addition to amazing friends showing up, I met many, many people who were moved by our story and rounded up their payment to further contribute to our cause.  I hope some of you awesome people are reading this now!  It was a blessing to meet so many people who care! 

I especially remember a lady named Donna who couldn’t stop crying as I told her our story and V’s story.  It was so moving to see a complete stranger so touched by our adoption adventure.   Hello Donna!  Please tell your daughter to contact me!

Watching God work:

1.)   Ms. Stoney, a neighbor of a friend, and a complete stranger to us, pulled up in her truck loaded with huge boxes which she set up, zip tied, got the kids to paint a beautiful rainbow on it, cut out windows and assembled an ICEE stand!!  She had heard our story from her neighbor, my friend Suzanne and said God told her to come help us by selling ICEEs for us!   She was there all day Friday and Saturday helping us!  Amazing!!!!!

2.)   Saturday morning, woke up at 4 am STRESSING OUT about being short staffed.  Prayed fervently for help…couldn’t sleep most of the night.  Asked God specifically for someone with the gift of service and administration as well as being knowledgeable regarding Yard Sales.  Sent out a plea for help to my CC – WG friends, our Church’s Ladies ministry and two of my CC-SC friends.  It was TOTALLY last minute, so didn’t expect to find anyone available, but thought I’d try.  So here we were on Sat am, just Rebecca and Veronica Q. and myself….majorly sleep deprived, short staffed, worried sick, getting a late start, & couldn’t find my coffee maker and here comes a car pulling up slowly just as we are starting to pull stuff out of the garage.  OH, no, a shopper already!  YIKES!  The three of us looked over and all said, “She’s waving at us”.  Hmmmm….  Out steps Melissa A., a friend from way back!   Surprising to us, but not to God, she is a mutual friend of all three of us!  She was a great friend at our very first Home school group, but I hadn’t seen her in at least 4 years.    She was on my list of people who I invited to attend the Yard sale, but I hadn’t asked her for help….how did she know?!?  She said, “God has been impressing on me all week to come help you on Saturday!”  Wow!!!!  I told her she just dropped down out of Heaven!  God not only answered my fervent 4 am specific prayer, but reminded me that He knew I’d have that need WAY before I knew!  We know that God is all-knowing, all-powerful and timeless, but to see Him demonstrate it at a Garage sale- WOW!   It was amazing.  Never have I seen God answer a prayer so quickly, so specifically, or so perfectly.  Thank you Melissa for answering God’s call- you were His gift to me that day!  In addition, another sweet friend from our newest Home school group, Michelle A., changed her plans for the day in spite of a flat tire that morning and came out to help us ALL day.  It was hot and hard work, but the blessings far outweighed the difficulties. 

3.)   Sweet 10 year old Jorden, who lives across the street from my friend’s house and was also a complete stranger to us, offered to take the Icee stand after the yard sale and continue to make money for our adoption by selling lemonade from it!!!   Before we were even finished loading all of the leftovers to transport to our next Yard Sale location she had already recruited two of her neighborhood friends and set up her lemonade stand!!  When we came back for a second load, there they were selling lemonade and had already made some money for us! 

This weekend was one of the hardest weekends of my life, It was HOT, it was draining, it was stressful, it was very overwhelming at times, but so worth it to bring V. home.   Much more remarkable, however, was the generosity and sacrifice of so many people.   They came alongside us to live out God’s command to, “Defend the poor and fatherless; Do Justice to the afflicted and needy.  Deliver the poor and needy…”  Psalm 82:3-4a.    I pray for God’s richest blessings on all of them. 

Update on the amazing Ukrainian Easter eggs

In "Waiting, Hoping and Praying" I mentioned our skype with "V" and the unbelievable Easter Eggs he made & showed us....Check these out:
Ukrainian Easter Eggs
Now you know why our American Easter Eggs hung their heads in shame:)
He said he would show us how to do his kind of eggs....next year:)

Progress

$9,500 raised, $20,500 to go!  Thanks to ALL who have helped us!  Your generosity is astounding!  Your prayers are uplifting!  Your encouragement brings tears of joy!
We have two Fundraiser Yard Sales scheduled THIS Weekend, April 27&28 and NEXT Weekend May 4&5 in Windermere and Winter Garden.  Contact me at: Bringhomelilbro@gmail.com for more info. 

"Our soul waits for the LORD;
He is our help and our shield.
For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
Because we have trusted in His holy name.
Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us,
Just as we hope in YOU."
Psalm 33:20-22

Best Pancakes Ever

OK, my husband ROCKS!  He started cooking at 5 am on Saturday and between 8-10am yesterday fed 80 people.  He let us help him serve, but wouldn't let us help in the kitchen while he was cooking.  He's a bit of a "Pancake Nazi":)  We had great food, lots of great fellowship and made about $400!!   We are so thankful to those who made the trek out to Clermont from Windermere and the other side of Orlando for our event!  It was great to have surprise visitors from our former life group, too! 
To keep it real, in spite of the great turnout and progress made toward bringing V home, today was a very hard day for me.  Have you ever awakened with a "cloud" over you?  After talking with our friends who are also on a path to adopt yesterday (who were two of the 4 who came WAY out to Clermont:) I realized my expectations as to when we can bring V home have been a little unrealistic. I was hoping that after we submit our dossier (mountain of paperwork) to Ukraine that we'd be able to travel over in a month or so.  (OK, I know you who are adopting are rolling on the floor laughing now!:)   But after talking to our friends yesterday, they said they were told it would be more like FOUR months.  Wow, that hit me really hard.  I've already waited 7 years to find the son I felt was missing.  V has been waiting almost that long for his family.   And now I have to wait MORE??  So even though I was fine yesterday, it just hit me hard today and I just couldn't stop crying.   And I'm not a "crying girl"...at all.    You can even ask my husband.  But I must have filled an entire travel pack of Kleenex throughout the day.  Fortunately GOD lifted me up, though.   I went to Church (even though I would have rather stayed in bed) and by the end of tonight, His words for me and fellowship & laughter with our Church family have lifted me out of that sad place.  I LOVE our Church family- who made up a large part of our Pancake Eaters yesterday- thank you Liberty!