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!