Just wanted to leave you all with a quick update before we loose power from this major storm. Just in case you live in a different part of the country from us (or world for that matter), we are currently in the middle of experiencing Hurricane Irene. It's been a rather busy time in the Northeast weather wise lately. Apparently we experienced an earthquake last week. Technically Jen and I didn't because we were away.
Anyway, this post is not about the weather. This week coming up is when we will be having our Home Study finalized! We've completed the home visit without any problems and will be meeting with the agency on Sept 1st to have everything finalized. This a major step of the adoption process out of the way putting us about halfway through the paper process. However, we are not quite this far along fund-wise. Currently we have raised slightly over $10,000, which only puts us about 1/4 of the way to our expected goal.
Because of this our attention for a little bit will have to go to some serious fund raising. Particularly our Fall Fest planned for Oct 1st. We hope you are planning to attend. We'll be having lots of fun activities for the whole family to do. I'll be making up a flyer with all the details shortly, and I'll be sure to post it here.
Did you know we have a website? Come check it out here.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Just in case you didn't know...
So we've heard a lot of talk about under reported the Congo is in the news media in America. I personally hadn't really heard anything about it before we started the adoption process, but I wanted to remain a little more open minded. So while Jen was doing some shopping last night I decided to spend some time in the Barnes & Nobles that was nearby testing my theory.
My first stop, "International Travel". Books on traveling to Morocco, Egypt, Israel, and many others, but no Congo. Fair enough, not much tourism to a war torn country. Next section I sought out was the World History section. The Congo has a pretty eventful history where a lot has happened in the last 100 years, surely books have been written about that? Apparently not. Found books entitled, "Complete Idiot's Guide: Middle East Conflict 4th edition", "British Petroleum and the Redline Agreement", "Israel: A History", and many others involving the same countries you hear about on the news. Another book I found that deserves mention was entitled "A Biography of the Continent Africa". A book that covers the entire history of Africa in less than 700 pages. Now that sounds concise. Ironically the American History section holds a variety of books some including the use of artillery shells in the Civil War, a 500 page book on just that, artillery shells.
I was just beginning to become discouraged when I finally found something. A fair sized book on the bottom of the shelf on King Leopold. This actually sounded promising until I read the back. To my surprise the book was about his control over and dealings with the Congo, however, King Leopold is described as a humanitarian who brought industry to the country. Before we award this noble king with a peace prize let's elaborate on this a little bit. In 1885 Leopold claimed the Congo as his own land naming it "The Congo Free State". The industry that was brought was the entire country being forced into slave labor to mine and collect diamonds, precious metals, and ivory. All the proceeds of these products went to further Leopold's wealth. The working conditions the people of this "free state" had to work under caused the deaths of about 10 million in the almost 30 years he had control over the land. I think we can consider this book slightly inaccurate.
So it turns out that it's true. The troubles in the Congo are under-represented, or ignored at all.
To do my own part to remedy this a little bit here is a short little information about what's going on in that country today:
The Congo is considered to be the worst place in the world to be a woman. It's estimated that a woman is raped almost every minute, and about 400,000 annually. To give you a comparison, the U.S. is about half this amount, and about 1/2-2/3 of these are "date rapes", which are incredibly sad, but the victim doesn't not suffer nearly the level of trauma as other forms of rape.
In the Congo, rape serves as a war tactic for local militias to take control of a village. All the women are gathered together and violently raped in front of the entire village. Many of these women require emergency surgeries or die after these incidents.
Do we wonder why there are no tourism books to the Congo?
Thank you for reading. We humbly ask that you take some time to do some research on the crisis in the Congo.
My first stop, "International Travel". Books on traveling to Morocco, Egypt, Israel, and many others, but no Congo. Fair enough, not much tourism to a war torn country. Next section I sought out was the World History section. The Congo has a pretty eventful history where a lot has happened in the last 100 years, surely books have been written about that? Apparently not. Found books entitled, "Complete Idiot's Guide: Middle East Conflict 4th edition", "British Petroleum and the Redline Agreement", "Israel: A History", and many others involving the same countries you hear about on the news. Another book I found that deserves mention was entitled "A Biography of the Continent Africa". A book that covers the entire history of Africa in less than 700 pages. Now that sounds concise. Ironically the American History section holds a variety of books some including the use of artillery shells in the Civil War, a 500 page book on just that, artillery shells.
I was just beginning to become discouraged when I finally found something. A fair sized book on the bottom of the shelf on King Leopold. This actually sounded promising until I read the back. To my surprise the book was about his control over and dealings with the Congo, however, King Leopold is described as a humanitarian who brought industry to the country. Before we award this noble king with a peace prize let's elaborate on this a little bit. In 1885 Leopold claimed the Congo as his own land naming it "The Congo Free State". The industry that was brought was the entire country being forced into slave labor to mine and collect diamonds, precious metals, and ivory. All the proceeds of these products went to further Leopold's wealth. The working conditions the people of this "free state" had to work under caused the deaths of about 10 million in the almost 30 years he had control over the land. I think we can consider this book slightly inaccurate.
So it turns out that it's true. The troubles in the Congo are under-represented, or ignored at all.
To do my own part to remedy this a little bit here is a short little information about what's going on in that country today:
The Congo is considered to be the worst place in the world to be a woman. It's estimated that a woman is raped almost every minute, and about 400,000 annually. To give you a comparison, the U.S. is about half this amount, and about 1/2-2/3 of these are "date rapes", which are incredibly sad, but the victim doesn't not suffer nearly the level of trauma as other forms of rape.
In the Congo, rape serves as a war tactic for local militias to take control of a village. All the women are gathered together and violently raped in front of the entire village. Many of these women require emergency surgeries or die after these incidents.
Do we wonder why there are no tourism books to the Congo?
Thank you for reading. We humbly ask that you take some time to do some research on the crisis in the Congo.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Why I love the floating lanterns...
I am in LOVE with the movie Tangled! Just love it. First of all, it is really a throw back to the old-school Disney animation, style, and story line, which makes it awesome. Second, I am a real sucker for a nice, innocent, lighthearted - funny - but still tear jerking, love story... one chock full of true love, sacrifice, and redemption. Disney seems to have a knack for this. Third, and perhaps most of all, I love the LANTERNS. They have captivated me. I spent all week trying to build one my myself (complete and utter FAIL, by the way... I want it to be known that they are more complex then Disney makes them out to be!!!). The scene in the movie that stands out the most to me is when Rapunzel and Flynn are out on the boat watching the lanterns set off and swirl around them... the use of light is absolutely breathtaking and gives me chills just thinking about it! But even more special than the beauty of the lanterns themselves is the meaning that they hold for me. In fact, this whole movie is pregnant with symbolism and meaning! Let me explain...
I recently held a girls night sleep-over where we watched the movie Tangled. As I planned out the night, I felt that I wanted to tie the movie in with a devotional that we could do before bed, and I wanted it to have to do with the lanterns. they had so captured my heart and my imagination, and I had the grand idea of making one to set off with the girls after our devotional. I thought about how in the movie the king and queen NEVER gave up on their stolen daughter. Year after year, without any sign to hope of her return, they continued to set off these lanterns on the faith that one day she would see them and come home to their waiting arms. The whole town, in fact, shared in this endeavor for their one little lost princess, for all of her 18 years! To me, this screams of he faithfulness of God. We, his prodigal children have been "stolen" or "kept" away from him - either by our own choices or by the blindness of our hearts - and yet he still seeks us. Every day he sends us messages of love and longing. His most poignant message was in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most important "lantern of love" to ever grace earth's skies! God does not give up on us, but searches for the ONE out of the 99. And the church shares in the father's heart for the lost, and searches for them too! How awesome is that! But just like Rapunzel felt as though somehow the lanterns were meant for her, yet she did not know what they meant, many people also miss God's messages. We look right past the butterfly on the flower, the veins in the leaf, the kindness of a stranger, and the hug of a child, and do not see the glory of God beckoning us. But he will never stop seeking us! He does not get discouraged! The sun, arguably the BIGGEST lantern we will ever see, continues to rise each day letting us know that mercies are new and alive THIS DAY. God. Never. Gives. Up. On. Us. His love, mercy, and grace astound me... part of me cannot understand such faithful, persevering love...
But another part of me CAN. This is how I am beginning to feel about my children. The ones who I have yet to see. I do not know their faces, I do not know anything about their world, and I do not know if they even have the heart to hope that they will soon get a family... YET I WILL SEEK THEM WITH ALL OF MY HEART. I will never stop trying to get to them: pursue the funding that is necessary, fill out all of the paperwork, educate myself on their Congolese culture, make sure that my heart is prepared to work through their hurts and baggage with them, and so on. I wish I could let them know that I am coming... I am thinking about them... I have not forgotten them... I will bring them home! If only I could set off a lantern, then maybe, somehow, they would see it and know that it was from me for them. I wish it were that easy! Like a Disney movie. :) I think that is why I wanted to make and launch a lantern so badly... because in my heart, it would be for them. Just like the king and queen seeking their lost daughter, never losing hope. But even if I can't physically send my children a message, I can do something just as powerful....
I can send my message to God in prayer. He holds my children in his hands even now, and he always will. Even after we adopt them, they will still belong to Jesus first and foremost! He knew them and he knew that we would be family before he created them. Moreover, they were created for Dan and I, and Dan and I were created for them. What a miracle! So, when I pray to the Lord, it is like I am sending him floating lantern messages, glowing with my deepest dreams, hopes, and hurts. In response, he can reach and meet the needs of my children wherever they are until I can get to them. My messages touch my Abba Father's heart. And the best part it, I do not have to wonder whether he received them... I can KNOW that he hears every whisper of my heart! Thankfully, I do not have to be able to build a successful floating lantern to do this either, or I'd be in big trouble, LOL!
So there you have it... why I love the movie Tangled. Why it chokes me up to see those lanterns. Why I am so obsessed with setting one off... and watching it float gently out of sight like a shooting star in slow motion, gleaming across the night sky and heading toward to horizon. Now you know that when I see them I am thinking about my children over in the Congo wishing I could send them a message... and until that day comes I am just talking about it with Jesus.
And I am working to get to them - seeking them - never giving up until I hold them in my arms!
I recently held a girls night sleep-over where we watched the movie Tangled. As I planned out the night, I felt that I wanted to tie the movie in with a devotional that we could do before bed, and I wanted it to have to do with the lanterns. they had so captured my heart and my imagination, and I had the grand idea of making one to set off with the girls after our devotional. I thought about how in the movie the king and queen NEVER gave up on their stolen daughter. Year after year, without any sign to hope of her return, they continued to set off these lanterns on the faith that one day she would see them and come home to their waiting arms. The whole town, in fact, shared in this endeavor for their one little lost princess, for all of her 18 years! To me, this screams of he faithfulness of God. We, his prodigal children have been "stolen" or "kept" away from him - either by our own choices or by the blindness of our hearts - and yet he still seeks us. Every day he sends us messages of love and longing. His most poignant message was in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most important "lantern of love" to ever grace earth's skies! God does not give up on us, but searches for the ONE out of the 99. And the church shares in the father's heart for the lost, and searches for them too! How awesome is that! But just like Rapunzel felt as though somehow the lanterns were meant for her, yet she did not know what they meant, many people also miss God's messages. We look right past the butterfly on the flower, the veins in the leaf, the kindness of a stranger, and the hug of a child, and do not see the glory of God beckoning us. But he will never stop seeking us! He does not get discouraged! The sun, arguably the BIGGEST lantern we will ever see, continues to rise each day letting us know that mercies are new and alive THIS DAY. God. Never. Gives. Up. On. Us. His love, mercy, and grace astound me... part of me cannot understand such faithful, persevering love...
But another part of me CAN. This is how I am beginning to feel about my children. The ones who I have yet to see. I do not know their faces, I do not know anything about their world, and I do not know if they even have the heart to hope that they will soon get a family... YET I WILL SEEK THEM WITH ALL OF MY HEART. I will never stop trying to get to them: pursue the funding that is necessary, fill out all of the paperwork, educate myself on their Congolese culture, make sure that my heart is prepared to work through their hurts and baggage with them, and so on. I wish I could let them know that I am coming... I am thinking about them... I have not forgotten them... I will bring them home! If only I could set off a lantern, then maybe, somehow, they would see it and know that it was from me for them. I wish it were that easy! Like a Disney movie. :) I think that is why I wanted to make and launch a lantern so badly... because in my heart, it would be for them. Just like the king and queen seeking their lost daughter, never losing hope. But even if I can't physically send my children a message, I can do something just as powerful....
I can send my message to God in prayer. He holds my children in his hands even now, and he always will. Even after we adopt them, they will still belong to Jesus first and foremost! He knew them and he knew that we would be family before he created them. Moreover, they were created for Dan and I, and Dan and I were created for them. What a miracle! So, when I pray to the Lord, it is like I am sending him floating lantern messages, glowing with my deepest dreams, hopes, and hurts. In response, he can reach and meet the needs of my children wherever they are until I can get to them. My messages touch my Abba Father's heart. And the best part it, I do not have to wonder whether he received them... I can KNOW that he hears every whisper of my heart! Thankfully, I do not have to be able to build a successful floating lantern to do this either, or I'd be in big trouble, LOL!
So there you have it... why I love the movie Tangled. Why it chokes me up to see those lanterns. Why I am so obsessed with setting one off... and watching it float gently out of sight like a shooting star in slow motion, gleaming across the night sky and heading toward to horizon. Now you know that when I see them I am thinking about my children over in the Congo wishing I could send them a message... and until that day comes I am just talking about it with Jesus.
And I am working to get to them - seeking them - never giving up until I hold them in my arms!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Home Study Visit!
The excitement is building... the home visit portion of our home study will be in less than 48 hrs! Yay! Friday at 1 pm we will have our social worker come out to do our home inspection, and then we are officially done with our portion of the home study. We will have the completed document by the end of the month. This is a big step for us, and gets us almost "paper ready"! Woohoo! Pray that all goes smoothly and that we can get the rest of our papers quickly so that we can officially send in our Dossier so that it can go on to Congo and the lawyer can begin searching for our kids! We will keep ya'll posted... :)
Monday, August 1, 2011
Feelings, Paradoxes, and Updates
Hi Friend and Family!
Our summer has been crazy as usual, but filled with many non-usual things along with the same-old… things like getting finger printed, meeting with social workers, filling out numerous applications, and writing autobiographies. Not to mention reading some fabulous adoption books! Yes, it has been the summer of the “paper pregnancy” as the adoption books so aptly call it! And like many biological pregnancies, it’s an interesting mix of exciting, tiring, quick, long, hopeful and bewildering. In fact, I (Jen) have been through so many emotions during this time, that I cannot begin to explain them all in one (short enough to read in one sitting) post. So, let me break it down and get ya’ll up to speed!
Exciting: We are just bursting at the seams to be parents! Literally, everywhere we look we notice families. When we are out to eat, at the store, at concerts, on vacation… everywhere we are noticing the fullness of life with children. We just can hardly wait! And even more exciting is the amount of adoptive families that we have noticed. It’s like we have “adoption radar” now. At Creation there were so many families that were obviously brought together through adoption, and even a few adoption groups who were attending the festival together! This was really awesome! Then at Yosemite we saw a number of adoptive families too. It felt as though we were linked through a kinship deeper than blood… and automatic union of having the heart of adoption (truly, the very heart of GOD!) beating in our chest. So cool! We are STOKED to become parents, and this consumes our thoughts! Also, one of our fundraisers this summer was a kid day at our house, and it was a BLAST! Talk about excitement… try hosting 29 kids at your home all day! Now THAT’S excitement!
Tiring: There is a LOT of paperwork. A LOT. Can I say that again? A LOT!!! Homestudy, Education worksheets, books to read, more paperwork for the dossier. Not to mention the fundraising, which weighs heavy on our minds. We still have $25,000 to go, and it is a whole lot of work to come up with such an amount! The kid day was awesome, but it does take a lot of time to prepare and recoup. Ahhhh, fundraising. We often wish we had more help in this area… it is hard to come up with enough different (cost effectively, yet unique and fun) ideas and carry them out! So, at the end of each day, when we have done everything we need just for normal life plus whatever we can do of our adoption related planning and paperwork, we are TIRED. But I guess that is a good preparation for parenting, huh??? LOL!
Quick: So much happens so fast in adoptions! We are constantly getting updates from our agency. Children are being adopted off of the waiting children list (it is so exciting to see one disappear, because that means that they have gotten a family!) and new children are added. We just got a message this week from our agency that said this: “I am not sure if our Congo families are aware, but we have been getting a good number of referrals of toddler boys and girls. Many families have received and accepted referrals and our first complete sets of dossiers are going to Congo on Monday… so let the adoptions begin!” WOW!!! How exciting! As many of you know, we are one of the initial group of families at our agency that are going through the country of Congo. It is a new program for our agency. So far, things had been moving pretty slow as we were all feeling our way through the Congolese process. But now the pace is picking up, and we need to get with it and get moving! The next set of fees are due, and we have the money to pay them, but then we are without funds for the next step… accepting a referral. In one way (emotionally) a referral can’t come soon enough, but in another way (financially) it is coming too quickly! Hmmm… God WILL provide IN TIME. We need to trust this!
Long: We miss our kids! Although we have never met them, we think about them constantly. Whenever I see black children, I wonder if mine will look like them, and I can’t help but smile! J A couple of times I have actually cried, because I just long to look into the eyes of my children and hold them in my arms. Pretty sure that looks weird, crying for no reason in public places! Ha! But mostof the time I just take note of cute hairstyles and clothing styles that I see, and I am SO tempted to buy kid clothes at Goodwill. Arrrggghhhh! It is so hard to wait sometimes! On our family vacation, as we adventured on hikes and saw magnificently beautiful vistsas of mountains, valleys, and waterfalls, our minds were on our children, who we wished we had with us to share in the experience. And when I look at my beautiful dark-skinned Cambodian sister Emma, I think about how awesome it will be to have two more chocolate beauties in our family photos. Yup, the waiting can definitely seem LONG.
Hopeful: We are FULL of HOPE!!! How could we not be? When God is doing something so extrodinary as building a family out from two separate continents, how can you not be filled with awe and wonder!? We are hopeful that by next year at this time we will have our children with us. We know that God will find a way to build us a bridge to them, and that hope drives us forward! It is especially encouraging to see so many others getting their child referrals who are going through this process beside us… we will be joining them soon too! That is almost unreal to think about… A God of wonder who knits hearts and souls together to form a beautiful masterpieces of color, culture, and love!
Bewildering: SO MUCH YET TO DO. So much yet to pay for. So many more fundraisers to plan and hold. It just seems like everyone is so busy these days, and we are certainly right there with them. Truthfully, some days I feel like I am just treading water trying to keep my head above the waves of responsibilities and tasks that need to be accomplished. The financial mountains that have yet to be moved seem daunting and fundraising can be disheartening, especially when it is all up to us and we still have so far to go. So, there is the bewinderment. But we know that this will all help us to GROW and be better prepared for the work of parenting, which is a whole lot more challenging then paperwork and fundraising, that’s for sure! J
So, that’s where we are. In the midst of a paradoxical mixture of happy and crazy! We are following God and trusting HIS timing. Most of all, we just can’t wait to have this Homestudy finished very soon! This will be a major step for us. Plus, we have a Fall Fest fundraiser in the works, so stay tuned for more on that! And if you think you could help us with the planning for that in any way, we would be GRATEFUL!
Thank you so much for your awesome support and love and for reading my ramblings! Peace and Love from Jesus to YOU and your families!!!!
Jen
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