Fake-Out

I went to get the mail today. I sorted the mail. My heart skipped a beat when I saw a letter from U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

What could this be?

Is it a rejection letter?

Maybe we didn't send enough money.

Maybe they are sending our application back because it was incomplete!

Wait, this envelope is too thin for that.

OH MY GOSH could this be our fingerprinting appointments?!?!?!

Try to open letter carefully with fingers. Too stuck. Go looking for letter opener. Give up on the letter opener and being careful; rip the envelope apart with fingers. Look at the top of the page:

"I-797C, Notice of Action"

D) None of the above.

It's a form telling us they received our application (good to know) and it is now "in process". That's all.

Oh, well. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Meet Anya's Family!

Remember sweet Anya?

I shared previously that she now has a committed family, but at the time I didn't know who that family was!

But now....

I would like to present....

The Haddick Family!
Here's their bio:

The Haddicks are so excited that God has chosen them to be Anya’s family!  Nathan and Angela have been married for 9 years.  Nathan is a Civil Engineer and Angela is a stay-at-home mom.
Anya will be their fourth child, and their first through adoption.  The Haddicks started considering a special needs adoption after their daughter, Ally, was born with special needs in October of 2009.  Anya will have two brothers looking out for her:  Drew (5) and Cooper (3).
Anya has had many people praying for her, since long before God brought the Haddicks into her life.  Thank you so much to everyone who cared enough about Anya to pray for her, visit her, and try to find her a family.  You made all the difference in her life, and you are the reason Anya has a family now.

They also have a blog, please check it out!!

Dossier Update

With all the craziness of last week I forgot to mention that we F-I-N-A-L-L-Y got our paperwork sent to USCIS. Basically this is an application to U.S. Immigration for permission to bring home a foreign-born child. This part of the paperwork process is notoriously long and unpredictable...and the approval form is often called your "Golden Ticket". From what I understand, first your application has to be assigned to an officer. Then your officer sets up a fingerprinting appointment for you for federal digital fingerprints. After that you wait...and wait...and wait...until finally your golden ticket comes in the mail. Please pray for our application to get processed quickly! It could literally be months before we have that precious piece of paper in our hands.

The rest of our dossier paperwork is coming along quite well! I'm actually starting to believe that it will get done, haha. My dissertation on the other hand...I still needs lots of faith and prayer :).

Another reminder that if you grabbed our button and put it on your blog, please re-grab it because I had to change some of the code. I got fussed at (in a kind way) for not having the button link directly to our Family Sponsorship Page on Reece's Rainbow. Whoops.

We are getting close to starting TWO fundraisers, so stay tuned for updates! Here's a clue: they all involve jewelry. And thank you to whomever donated $50 to our grant fund yesterday! It really lifted my spirits.

One final thought and prayer request...God is really stirring our hearts up again and it's not clear yet what He is asking us to do. I can't say much more than that right now, please just pray for clarity...and QUICKLY! There is really no time to sit around and play the "wait-and-see" game. Oh, dear Lord...what are you asking us to do this time?!?

In Loving Memory

There's a lot of talk amongst adoptive families about the spiritual attack that often comes with committing to an adoption. I've mentioned a few things that I've been struggling with personally here on this blog. But up until now, it's mostly been between me, Rob, and Satan.

That changed this week.

When Satan decides he isn't getting his way, he goes in for the kill....literally.

All this to say, Rob's grandfather had a heart attack on Monday night and passed away. We had the funeral and burial this morning, with full military honors. It has been a hard week, to say the least.

In Loving Memory of Wallace Asa Tanner:

Proudly served in the U.S. Navy

With his wife of 65 years, Lillian Tanner

And this one is my personal favorite:

Yes, that is Rob with his Granddaddy :)

Wally was so excited to meet Riley, and I so wish he could have. But we know he is in Heaven now and will hopefully meet Riley there someday. Wally lived a full life of 87 years and we celebrated his life today. He will be missed.

If You've Grabbed Our Button...

...please "re-grab" it!

I had to make some changes to the html code so that when people click on our button it will link back to our Reece's Rainbow family sponsorship page instead of this blog. The code to the right is corrected, so just right-click, select all, copy, and paste!

Thanks!

What is the Church's role in Adoption?

Lately I've been pondering this question. I'll get more specific in a minute, but first I want to throw out a few disclaimers:

1. This post may be long and rambling. :)
2. I am not claiming to have any expertise in this area, quite the opposite! 
3. I am NOT NOT NOT judging any particular church, ESPECIALLY my own! 

But here is what is on my heart. I'm hoping this post will generate a good discussion in the comments section, and I hope to hear from many of you what your thoughts/personal experiences are.

Ok, Jess, get to the point already :).

As I've been swept along this road to adoption, I've come across something that doesn't feel quite right. It seems that some adoptive families don't get support from their church. I'm talking big churches and small churches, all across the country. I'm blessed to be a part of an adoption Yahoo group and have been able to hear from many people about this.

Support from churches seems to vary. Some not at all. Some will not allow members to announce their adoption plans to the congregation, but it is ok to ask individuals for support. Some churches are great about announcements and encouragement (including my own). Some will take up a specific offering. What I haven't seen a lot of, (and that doesn't mean it isn't happening, this is where YOU come in!), is churches giving directly from their budget (you know, what people tithe) to financially support adoptive families.

I've heard various reasons for this, and they all make logical sense. I am a very logical person, so my head understands very clearly the reasons. For small churches, they often have very little money to give. For large churches, they have so many members that if they support one family they would need to support them all, so they don't support anybody.

Now, I have never been a part of a budget committee and I'm sure it is a VERY hard job! That is why I'd like to hear from you, if you have any insight. My head gets it, but my heart doesn't. Especially when I think of the early church, in Acts 2:

All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵ They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. ⁴⁶

Is this part of the reason for the tithe? So that the church could support "anyone who had need"? Again, I don't know the answers to these questions, help a girl out here! :)

But I wonder...

Would more people consider adoption if the church (in general) regularly and openly helped adoptive families financially? Maybe they could budget adoption grants and families could apply for them? Are there any churches out there that do this? I am curious if you know about one.

Money IS the biggest obstacle for adoptive families. There are many scripts I have played out in my head as to why we shouldn't adopt now:

• Lord, we're too young. We haven't worked for very long and don't have much savings.
• Lord, just let us pay off our student loans first.
• Lord, it makes more sense to work for a year to save up the money.
• Lord, we are losing my income so I can stay home with Riley and help him adjust to his new life in a family.
• Lord, I am graduating and will have to start making payments on my student loans.
• Lord, Riley's medical needs will bring more expenses than we have ever had before.
• Lord, we might have to take out another loan for the adoption....

Oh, I could go on and on! Note that all those excuses boil down to money. But God's calling for us has been clear: NOW. These children CAN'T wait!

All that to say, what are your thoughts? I'm sure this discussion has been had "behind the scenes" at budget meetings galore, but I think it's important for us "lay" people to know.

If you've never commented before, please take this as a personal invitation from me to share your thoughts and experiences.

I want to hear from you! Sound off.