As we wait...albeit not always patiently we are pressing forward! Our current status hasn't changed much as we await more information. Our dossier has been translated and is in the hands of the government in the Dominican Republic awaiting approval. Our prayer, please join us, is that we would be approved rather quickly and still be able to travel this Nov. However; the way things are currently going in the Dominican Republic with the massive deportations (if you listen to K-Love then I know you have heard about it!) things are going slower than they apparently normally would so please keep us as well as this child in your prayers!


September is our Fundraiser MONTH! We have a motorcycle ride on September 5th and then an incredibly exciting Both Hands Project Sept 19th where we have to chance to serve a widow while also helping raise funds for our Adoption! I have NEVER been so thrilled about a project! If you would be willing to send out letters and join us on this project please just email me! My email is jesspruyn@gmail.com
 Thanks to a grant from Lifesong up to $3000 will be matched making it possible for us to raise more than $6000 to help with the remaining $20,000 of our total $40,000 adoption! Please consider how you can help by either joining the project or donating: http://www.bothhands.org/project/pruyn-5390


Watch the video here: vimeo.com/49870537   Consider joining our team contact me and help this sweet widow!




We are blessed to be one of the 5/5/5 families this month! Please consider donating! This is a wonderful organization that helps bring special needs children into Forever families!http://reecesrainbow.org/category/sponsorafamily/555-family


Or donate via reeces rainbow:
http://reecesrainbow.org/89456/sponsorpruyn


Please share our links with all you know and consider donating your time if not your dime! We truly feel that this child is meant to be ours and we are grateful for all the support we have received thus far, but we have so far to go and SO many details to work out! We are taking this day by day, trusting in faith that God opened this door and we are just walking His road...


Please take a moment to read through our information and share with your friends! If you have any questions feel free to join our email list at: ourdeafadoption@gmail.com


Facebook Ourdeafadoption page as well as our blog ourdeaflife.BlogSpot.com


Jess

Adoption update

We are blessed to currently have our dossier in country being translated,  our i800 approved, and waiting on more recent paperwork for a few things. We have also been recently approved for a both hands project as we seek to raise the remaining $21,786.16 needed to bring our boy home! Keep you eyes open as we will be in touch about our both hands project!  Thank you!

Jessie

Exhausted and Pressing On!

 It's amazing how much God just really reaches down to let us know He is still in control. The last few weeks have been nothing short of brutal. Fundraising, Planning, preparing to rent out our home, try to get some things packed, and research options for once we are there! I like to plan and for such a long commitment it is nothing short of excruciating to try and get everything together.


 Called insurance and discussed rental insurance, as well as reducing driving insurance on the cars while we are gone. Trying to figure out what to do with our pets, where Brianna and I will stay if we have to return early, making sure all our things are put away and only things left for renters, hosting a Yard Sale to raise money for our adoption as well as filling our grants and trusting that God is gonna supply the money!


On the upside I have been blessed to volunteer at CSS again this year with Brianna and looking into so many adopted children who have finally found their forever home I cannot help but press onward. Brice and I took a long step back last weekend and prayerfully sought God on what we were to do. Knowing that switching countries would allow such a shorter time in country and save us SO much money personally, but then it would mean a delay..backtracking and ultimately not getting the child God so clearly has placed in our paths. We just need a lot of prayers right now as we still haven't seen a picture and while we hope to by the end of the summer. I, Jessie, am just really at a place where I am struggling right now. Todays Bible Study lesson was amazing. Beth Moore referenced Paul and all the hindrances that he experienced that were to help him grow, not telling him to quit. Sometimes in the Adoption process it gets so overwhelming that you feel like just giving up! I have been at that place since last Thursday after our call to the agency, but now comes the real test. Walking by faith not by sight....we press on...trusting God will work this all out together for HIS glory.


Keep us in your prayers as we begin preparing for several more fundraisers in AUG/SEPT. The bulk of our funds are due by SEPT. So prayers are greatly appreciated. Also we just found yet another hurdle that God is gonna have to work through...so please prayers continually!


If you feel like donating we have a matching grant thanks to SIGNS for HOPE!

Trusting

  This is where things get really down to crunch time and all our eggs feel like they are in the same basket! We are scheduled for our UCIS appointment granting us approval to make this child our son! Then we are scheduled to call the agency and discuss more in depth in-country stay/stuff....So scary depending on God to provide what we need through grants or more fundraising as we move forward!


Please if you haven't done so already take a moment to share our story, this blog, our facebook group Our Deaf Adoption. If you have collected a laundry jar then please make arrangements to drop them off with us! We have $3700 due before too much longer along with the needed $20,000 for in-country and $2887.50 due for agencies travel fee.


    Please just pray that God would continue to provide as He has thus far! Pray also as we continue finishing our house and seek the final inspection, we will have to be able to rent it out for several months or take out a loan to cover at home expenses (if we even can). So many details....prayers are greatly appreciated! Pray for SUN SUN SUN so that we can have a successful yard sale next week!


Jessie

Update

This morning as I began my bible study I ran across a verse that really made me stop and think about Adoption. While Paul, Silas, and Timothy might have had a slightly different meaning I can't help but look at 1 Thessalonians 2:8 and think about our boy! "We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives,   because you had become dear to us."
  Praying for our boy this morning and that God is preparing Him as well as us for the difficult journey ahead!

Update: great news on that only a few minor edits needed on our psych eval, we most likely won't have to pay for a repeat visit!

We have sent in several grants and are in process of registering for our required pre- travel training in July!

We also got our UCIS letter they received our application to make this boy our son!  Waiting on biometrics!

Prayers we get a file and info soon!

Update

This morning as I began my bible study I ran across a verse that really made me stop and think about Adoption. While Paul, Silas, and Timothy might have had a slightly different meaning I can't help but look at 1 Thessalonians 2:8 and think about our boy! "We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives,   because you had become dear to us."
  Praying for our boy this morning and that God is preparing Him as well as us for the difficult journey ahead!

Update: great news on that only a few minor edits needed on our psych eval, we most likely won't have to pay for a repeat visit!

We have sent in several grants and are in process of registering for our required pre- travel training in July!

We also got our UCIS letter they received our application to make this boy our son!  Waiting on biometrics!

Prayers we get a file and info soon!

Dossier progress

  Huge praise! We are in process of getting our dossier apostilled then it's on its way to Dominican for translation! I'm so excited!  God is so good!  I couldn't ask for a better anniversary gift! Praying that soon we get a file.  Two more grants go in mail today.  Prayers so appreciated as we focus this summer on n preparing our house to rent,  getting final inspections, and getting last of paperwork and training to prepare to move and get our boy! I'm starting to get really nervous! We are studying Spanish allot but still so lacking! Prayers that funds will be provided so we can press forward!

I800 on way

Our i800 is on its merry way! Come Monday we will be well on our way! We should get our information on biometrics in 2 weeks!  So thrilled to finally be at a place where progress is steadily moving forward!  Praying that by June we will be able to see a picture of the child we have worked so hard and prayed for all these months! This summer is going to be an amazing journey.  Praying for grants as we submit yet another application trusting God to provide what is needed. Studying Spanish and packing stuff up to be stored while we are gone. Be praying for nice honest renters who will care for our house while gone! Continue prayers that we would be granted an exemption and only stay 4 months so that we can return to our chaotic life stateside if that is Gods will! Otherwise that the money would be available so that we can stay the whole 6 months without worry.  Thank you for your prayers.  Please share!
Www. Reecesrainbow.org/sponsorpruyn

Dossier

  While we still have some of the dossier to finish. The bulk of it is at last done! Mailed Tuesday and arrived today at our agency!  We are praying that translation can begin soon so that we sure able to press forward!

Please pray that everything goes smoothly and that God would open hearts and prepare our son for the changes coming.  Pray for us as we begin more on depth explaining to Brianna about upcoming changes in our lives. 
Also pray as we earnestly fundraiser and prepare our house to be rented out while we are gone.

Lacking a few doors n touch up to being done!

Thank you for your continued support. Please share our links with friends.
Www.Reecesrainbow.org/sponsorpruyn

Www.Adopttogether.com/ourdeafadoption

Do you LOVE coffee?
Www.justlovecoffee.com/ourdeafadoption

Join our mailing list ourdeafadoption@gmail.com

House/progress

   Spent the weekend working on our house,  playing with our toddler and preparing to send our dossier to agency for review! Plumber came and fixed toilet on Friday so we finally have the kids bathroom semi functional again!
Last week our precious baby girl turned THREE! So hard to believe. Time has flown and I'm thrilled to be blessed to be this wildly independent girls mom! We have started mentioning her brother more and more as we inch forward in our process.  Now as we prepare for me to be off work this summer and we send our dossier prayers are needed for funding.  We begin grant applications this week and are trusting God to provide what is needed in His timing! Anyone without plans the 28/29/30 of May come hang out and help with our three day yard sale! We are still taking donations! Contact us for pickup!  Prays that this nets our needs. Apostilitation is $5 per document.  I think it will be about $56/60 could be more then $12,200 for remaining agency and legal fees!  This is not including the $20k for travel! We are trusting God and taking it one day at a time but most of funds due by Sept/Oct! Please keep us on n your prays and start praying for grants!

    God never ceases to amaze me! The brilliant timing of His is incredible. Watching Him in the details is just astounding! So after all the trials, fuss, and heartache with our house and everything as we sought to get our home study officially finished...guess when the official approval came? Brianna's 3rd Birthday! May 5, 2015 will be a date that sticks in my mind forever for even more reasons now! We are on a much more official playing field as we press onward. Our I-800A gets mailed out this week requesting permission to make this child our son and a U.S. Citizen! Pray that all goes well and speedy! We are mailing in all our official papers to the agency so that they can begin translation ASAP. Next we have biometrics and if I remember anything from 14 years ago with my brother this involves us going to immigration, but I am not completely sure about that as of yet. Brice and I are working hard on finishing the house so that we have it all ready to rent out by this fall to save a little money if we can at all.


At Brianna's recent well visit I asked about scheduling a visit to discuss adoption paperwork and review our sons file once its received! Prayers that this goes well and that we can get an exemption to only stay in country for 4 months so that we can get him stateside for services! I have also checked with the International Adoption Clinic in town and that review will cost us $475 so add that to the legal fees due this summer and we are in some serious fundraising need! God is working out amazing things! We have been blessed with many wonderful donations and are planning a massive Yard Sale for the end of the month! Even better a friend just contacted me that we can use her house for a community wide one this Saturday! Prayers that it goes well and that we earn lots of money for the adoption! Brianna and I are gonna spend lots of time this week getting things together! I am off to do the last couple of errands for today before going home to cook supper and prepare Yard Sale things.


Prayers for the grants we just sent off today and the ones we have yet to apply. Prayers for our boy who is getting older everyday, most likely without language and the love of a family. Prayers for Jessie as I continue studying Spanish. Thanks to a good friend I have been practicing on the way to work, but have spent several weeks on the 3rd cd...Prayers that I renew my gusto!


As I wrap up work for the year and prepare to stay home and catch up on the house and things this summer, prayers that God provides everything we need financially and otherwise as we seek to be wise with finances and time.


Prayers for success at the yard sale, and as we apply for several fundraisers for summer/fall!

Homestudy progress

    Homestudy is signed and we are awaiting notary and our finally copy.  Then are i800 will be submitted for permission to make this boy a US citizen and our son!  We are currently finishing the documents in our dossier. Pictures of family, last required forms, and odds and ends as we wait fbi prints to come back.

Prayers appreciated as we press forward.  Work wraps up for me in a few weeks and then it's summer break.  We are planning a massive Yard Sale to help with adoption costs as our second legal fee will be due this summer.  Prayers appreciated as we press forward!

Dossier/homestudy

While most people have long since completed their homestudy we are still awaiting while pressing on with our dossier! It has been a ride for sure but God has proven faithful again and again!  Today wraps up our pampered chef fundraiser and then we have Tupperware and thirtyone in addition to juice plus upcoming if anyone is interested.  A dear friend is hosting another pampered chef fundraiser for me and we are planning a HUGE yard Sale the end of MAY! I'm super excited! Cannot wait for summer and fundraising! Outright Donations can be mailed to us,  sent to reeces rainbow or www.adopttogether.com/ourdeafadoption

Check it out.  Grab a money jar! We need $13,000 to finish paying agency and legal fees! We are inching forward so please help in any way you can!

Pray for our boy! Pray that soon we will see his file!
Pray our homestudy gets finished and that we get grants!

Pray that we find renters while we are out of country!

Please as you spring clean keep us mind!

Pressing on...

   Life has been chaotic as we pursue the massive amount paperwork with the adoption.  Chasing down references and letters to compete this phase and completing our i800 for permission to go get our son.  Its been allot of work and almost overwhelming at times as we trade off childcare, grocery shop, cook, clean,  and deal with life,  but God in His wisdom provides every little detail.  We get a grant rejection letter and a check comes in the mail. He has never failed to show us his hand in this process.  We are prayerfully pushing forward. We now have a reeces rainbow account active in addition to abba fund and Adopttogether. Thanks to help from friends I am gathering assessments and slowly getting some basic school materials to take with us! Brianna and I have started doing 15 min of school everyday and talking about helping our brother learn. She is so excited and yet she has no clue. .. one day when he is stealing her toys I will remind her how much she wanted a brother haha.

Keep praying for those grants.  As we wrap up our homestudy the time is getting closer that they will be needed!

Want to help?  Send a check either to us or our reeces account (no fees withheld) or donate at our sites
Www.adopttogether.com/ourdeafadoption

Need Tupperware?  Thirty one? Pampered chef?

Have things to donate for our yard Sale?

Know a place we could have a spaghetti supper or chili cookoff this fall?

Keep praying!  Thanks

I800

I'd heard over and over again in my adoption groups about this particular form but it never really hit me until this past week as we started our dossier process and filled out this form, but I've got to admit it has taken my excitement to a whole new level!  Having a friend in country who is soon bringing her son home has made this even more real for me! We are just praying as we meet with a financial advisor and  save what we can while finishing the last few things around the house,  that God will provide every step of the way!  We ask for your support through prayers, donations  (we need clothes and yard sale items as well so donate to us instead of good will!), we lack around $33,000 total not to mention the expenses of covering our bills while out of work! This is a total walk of faith and we are taking it one day at a time.  Pray as we begin applying for grants! We are lacking $680 paying dossier n $890 for the I-800 fee just to get US approval to adopt.

Specific prayers are for our sweet daughter as we begin preparing her for a brother.  For our son as he waits alone with no clue that anyone is coming for him to make him apart of a FAMILY!

Prayers that God grants us the financial assistance and fundraisers to press forward!

In Him
Jessie

Moving forward

   As we move forward with our dossier and immigration. We embark on another journey.  We have started applying for grants and trying to gain the last two payments to our agency! Worth a little over $4,000 for the dossier and travel due in a few months there is lots to be done!

Prayers are needed for a couple of big fundraisers.  Like a 5k, pancake breakfast, or motorcycle rally!

For now we have two more small fundraisers. Goat milk soap all natural and made in the USA with ten different scents for $6 ea. Email or facebook me for details.

  Another friend is donating her commission to our adoption with an initials ink party! Thank you Lisa!  Personalization is FREE!

Check out their amazing stuff!
Http://www.myinitials-inc.com/22374

Check out their fabulous line of bags and jewelry!

Yeah for update

So today was eventful in that we learned we have a little more time and less stress than we expected before moving to get our boy. The process it seems moves slower than I had anticipated.  Grateful for the extra time, but sad delays our becoming a family unit! Trusting God to provide the needed resources as we move forward both financially and in our research into work and ministry over there! Pray as we seek grants and fundraisers this spring!

Research and Prayers

 I am desperately researching alternatives and cheaper options in the Dominican Republic that would ease the costs of in country stay as we prepare to get our son. Knowing that things could progress rather quickly this Spring as we seek to finish our dossier and have it submitted by our 5 year anniversary means travel could be anywhere from summer to fall for us! God has been taking care of us every step of the way and I have no doubt he will continue!


We wrap up our homestudy next week with the final interview. Waiting on one last signature to mail what I hope is the final paperwork so we can apply for even more grants! Trusting that God is going to bring the remaining funds we need as we prepare our house to become a short term rental and prepare for some large fundraisers this Spring.


What do we need? Prayers...lots of them...with an estimated average cost of $75/night (hoping to get a good apartment much cheaper) 6 months in country without work is gonna be HARD financially! We are trusting that God will provide job opportunities over there for us on a part-time if necessary basis, so we can bond as a family. Pray that we find good renters who will take care of all the hard work we poured into our house! Pray that we are approved for grants. We are both feeling led to do this debt free and agreed we wouldn't go if we didn't raise the funds, but my heart aches at the thought of a child without a family and mere money being the limiting factor!


Donate! Even $5 is a HUGE help...Fill a jar with your change from your dryer and give to us. We have had several that have helped so much already. Host a bake sale, garage sale, and donate the proceeds...if you live locally we would love to assist! Or donate us your stuff and we will do it for you! Do you or someone you know love coffee... http://www.justlovecoffee.com/ourdeafadoption


Love jewelry...Preimer design consultant Nicole is doing us a fundraiser until next week! Check out the site using firefox or chrome with out www and then let me know what you would like! We make 40%!!!! So please buy some Christmas gifts!!!

Another busy week

    Life never seems to slow down does it. This past week has been a whirlwind as my brother underwent an eleven hour surgery on his spine and knee.  Brice and I have tried helping my mom every spare minute and it's been fun hanging out with family despite the rather trying situation.  David is recovering well although quite mad that he is required to walk.  He just wants to go home and I don't blame him.  Funny but having a brother is allot different than being a parent, as most of you prolly already know,  but recently I had some time to reflect and some things really bounced around and stuck deep within my brain.  I noticed that when David doesn't want to intake information, i.e. doesn't like what you are saying, he just chooses to close his eyes. The thought occurred to me that this was something I imagine our son, being deaf as well, will pull on us.
Allot of things are guesswork, David moaned and groaned and is obviously in allot of pain, but 30 min of drastically signing/miming over and over (on a scale of 1-10 your pain is... along with visual aid) and his answer always being a two, left me rather frustrated.  My exact words were. .. well if you are only a two you can walk home! He laughed and shut his eyes insisting he was a two.  I gave up. It was a strong reminder that Yes, despite fluency we will still struggle with language until our little one makes up for those missing years of visual language input. Allot will depend on many variables as to his progression. Another thought that occurred to me was the possibility that he might also one day be needing care in the hospital due to some unforseen issue that happened in utero or other life event and how blessed we were to have such wonderful care so close to our home. Contemplating all these things have given me comfort that yes indeed God has a plan and knowing HE will provide the needed funds to see us bring him home!

Www.Adopttogether.com/ourdeafadoption

Busy day

Things have been a whirlwind today as we had our last physical homestudy visit and then medical tests and paperwork at the local care clinic. That leaves us with only psych evals and some forms and our parting phone interview to having our homestudy complete! Things are finally looking up and the best part is that most of the stress of construction is behind us! With a few minor things like baseboards, paint,  and doors. ... feeling much better and enjoying our house immensely!  Praying that we wrap up the homestudy and focus on fundraising to bring our son home!  So excited to see God lead and work things out!  He goes before us! Practice my Spanish for today and now gonna shower n hit the hay!  Goodnight world!

Dispelling doubt

God is so amazing.  Yesterday after waking to a warning about traveling via the state dept, reading that the Dominican has had issues with cholera, not too mention getting close to deadlines of hefty payouts and worrying about finances as we struggle to finish our house and prepare to get our boy. I was starting to feel overwhelmed and questioning the wisdom in going to a country for such a long length of time in the midst of such chaos in the world.  Is it wise?  Where are we gonna get the money? Traveling with two young toddlers? Maybe three kids if were so blessed. Lots of worries, concerns, and questions. I get through my day do my errands go home and in a moment where I finally had a moment to breathe I get an email that we had been blessed with a grant from a friend that lost their son. Tears streamed as I had followed this family during their time of immense pain and incredible faith. Humbled beyond words yet again He has proven we need to press forward.

So onward ho!

New year

Yes it is 2 am and I am wide awake.  We rang in the new year like an old married couple in bed checking our news and Facebook but alas I am wide awake while the crew sleeps peacefully.  My mind drifted over our year of 2014. The loss of our second child to miscarriage is forever seared in my head in the form of an ultrasound. Seeing that perfectly formed little baby who God chose to take home made the whole experience much more real than my first miscarriage,  not to mention the physical part of giving birth to a dead baby. Never did we know that so quickly God would open another door for us to walk thorough in the form of adoption. We have labored tirelessly ok perhaps not best word choice. We have been working our butts off. .. nights,  weekends,  vacations, trying to finish our house all the while doing paperwork and homestudy things in addition to fundraising. Much more of that to come!  Our prayers for 2015 is that God would grant us the funds to go get our boy!  Praising Him that we now have the money to complete the homestudy and that in Jan we would be able to finally get the homestudy finalized! As soon as we finalize and have the next $3k we can proceed with our dossier and hopefully sometime around our anniversary finally see his file.  This journey is such a walk of faith but watching God work is nothing short of miraculous!  Now onto a healthy and happy New year!