I have moved our blog. My brother has set up a new blog site for me. I will be able to customize it a bit more, and it should be a bit easier to navigate now. I really don't know all of the advantages this new site will give me, but my brother does and I trust him ( : Anyway, I have included a link to the new site here and I will continue to keep our story updated...
The Williams Family Adoption
Thank you for following our progress and showing your support!
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Donations!!
We have one week to go until the big garage sale. We have had so many friends and family already pitch in to make this a great sale day! We are so appreciative of the support that everyone is showing to help us out with this. I am really looking forward to next week. I know garage sales are a lot of work, but I like them! And those packs of pricing stickers make it so much faster. One week to go and here's where we're at with donations...
This is way more stuff than I have ever put out for a sale, and we still have more room and more donations coming! I have to admit that this is a much needed distraction from the wait.
Here are some dates to give you a little perspective on our time in the adoption process so far...
November 19th: Accepted into the Ethiopia program at AWAA
December 24th: Fingerprints sent in for FBI and CBI clearances
3rd Week of January: Began our home study
March: Home study complete
2nd Week of April: We had begun to realize that our wait in Ethiopia was going to be much longer than we originally thought, and began to look into some other programs
April 14th: Talked with the director of our home study agency to see if there were any other programs that she would recommend
April 16th: Got an email from mentioned H.S. agency director saying that she had gotten a request 4/15 for any interested families for an African American domestic program in GA
April 18th: All dossier documents completed and approved
April 23rd: Application to agency in GA accepted
May 9th: CBI fingerprints back
May 14th: Family Life Books handed out to adoption counselors
May 16th: FBI fingerprints back
June 4th: Family Life Book online
Praying and waiting.....
Here are some dates to give you a little perspective on our time in the adoption process so far...
November 19th: Accepted into the Ethiopia program at AWAA
December 24th: Fingerprints sent in for FBI and CBI clearances
3rd Week of January: Began our home study
March: Home study complete
2nd Week of April: We had begun to realize that our wait in Ethiopia was going to be much longer than we originally thought, and began to look into some other programs
April 14th: Talked with the director of our home study agency to see if there were any other programs that she would recommend
April 16th: Got an email from mentioned H.S. agency director saying that she had gotten a request 4/15 for any interested families for an African American domestic program in GA
April 18th: All dossier documents completed and approved
April 23rd: Application to agency in GA accepted
May 9th: CBI fingerprints back
May 14th: Family Life Books handed out to adoption counselors
May 16th: FBI fingerprints back
June 4th: Family Life Book online
Praying and waiting.....
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Now Accepting Donations
Well, we are officially ready to take your stuff now : ). We have gone through our house to dig up some of the stuff that we haven't seen since we moved in. Aydin even contributed to our garage sale (although her pile is admittedly very small). If you have a pile of things that you are looking to purge, bring them on over! God has been good, and our $ gap is closing. With your help this garage sale can bring us much closer to our goal. Please email me at jkwilliams723@yahoo.com for details about where to drop off your items, and to schedule a time to do that. We are so excited to get the community involved!
The garage sale will be held June 21st and 22nd, 8 am- 2 pm. Hope to see you there.
As always we appreciate all of your prayers and support!
Our prayer requests at this time are:
-the health of the birth mom and baby that will choose us (and for the birth moms/babies that aren't going to choose us as well)
-the adoption agency and their ministry
-a successful garage sale!
-and children around the world who need homes
The garage sale will be held June 21st and 22nd, 8 am- 2 pm. Hope to see you there.
As always we appreciate all of your prayers and support!
Our prayer requests at this time are:
-the health of the birth mom and baby that will choose us (and for the birth moms/babies that aren't going to choose us as well)
-the adoption agency and their ministry
-a successful garage sale!
-and children around the world who need homes
Monday, May 20, 2013
Fundraising Garage Sale!!
Well... the paperwork is done! The fingerprints are back! Our family life books have been handed out to adoption counselors! We are now driving a minivan with plenty of room for one more car seat! We are ready...with the exception of funding. We have made pretty great headway in this department, saving $ wherever we find it, and thanks to the support of amazing family and friends! In the last 5 months we have raised almost $400 from coffee and coffee sleeves, and we have already either paid or saved up nearly 40% of our total expected expenses (my business that was supposed to have died by now, has been doing even better this year)! I cannot attribute our progress with the adoption funding to anything but God's help. As of now we have about $17,000 left to go before we have what we need to bring a baby home.
We would really appreciate your help with this. We are planning an adoption fundraising garage sale for the month of June! If you are in the middle of a spring cleaning and have found some things that you are ready to part with, need some more room in the garage or basement, or have a bag for the thrift store sitting by your front door we invite you to bring that on over to our house, or we can arrange to pick it up. We will be accepting donations for our adoption fundraising garage sale June 1st-19th. The actual adoption fund garage sale will be held June 21st-22nd. Please feel free to email me at jkwilliams723@yahoo.com for details about where to drop off your items, and to schedule a time to do that.
As always we appreciate all of your prayers and support!
Our prayer requests at this time are:
-the health of the birth mom and baby that will choose us (and for the birth moms/babies that aren't going to choose us as well)
-the adoption agency and their ministry
-fundraising
-and children around the world who need homes
P.S. I have now added a donations button to the right of my blog for those of you who are far away, but would also like to help support our adoption. The donation button links to paypal, which is a secure site, and all donations will go directly into our adoption fund.
We would really appreciate your help with this. We are planning an adoption fundraising garage sale for the month of June! If you are in the middle of a spring cleaning and have found some things that you are ready to part with, need some more room in the garage or basement, or have a bag for the thrift store sitting by your front door we invite you to bring that on over to our house, or we can arrange to pick it up. We will be accepting donations for our adoption fundraising garage sale June 1st-19th. The actual adoption fund garage sale will be held June 21st-22nd. Please feel free to email me at jkwilliams723@yahoo.com for details about where to drop off your items, and to schedule a time to do that.
As always we appreciate all of your prayers and support!
Our prayer requests at this time are:
-the health of the birth mom and baby that will choose us (and for the birth moms/babies that aren't going to choose us as well)
-the adoption agency and their ministry
-fundraising
-and children around the world who need homes
P.S. I have now added a donations button to the right of my blog for those of you who are far away, but would also like to help support our adoption. The donation button links to paypal, which is a secure site, and all donations will go directly into our adoption fund.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
A New Direction
Well, it is official now. We applied to, and were approved for a domestic adoption program in Georgia. And I. am. so. excited! I was excited about Ethiopia too, but I think I was kind of holding back knowing that the wait would be so long. Now we are looking at a wait of one year or less. It is by birth mother's choice so really it could be anytime. And the child that we will be bringing home will most likely be an infant.
This seems like a completely new direction for us, but really it's not. We were called to adoption for sure. I don't really think it matters where from.
It might take a while for me to let go of the idea of Ethiopia. We were so focused on Ethiopia for the past 6 months. And I think that sometimes the church can be so globally focused that we can tend to overlook how much missions are needed here in the US. Well, with over 1 million abortions performed each year in the US (that's over 3,000 per working day) it is clear that the mission of the agency we are working with in Georgia is so necessary. No matter where in the world you look, you will find children who just need someone to give them a chance at life.
So the downside to going this route is that it may be full of heartbreak for us. We have been told that the main mission at this agency is to the birth moms and not the adoptive families. Their goal is to provide an alternative to abortion and counseling. Only 1 in 10 moms that receives free counseling actually relinquishes their baby, and over 50% of moms change their mind about relinquishing. So we are viewing this as a ministry first, and a way to grow our family second. I know I will be heartbroken if our first (2nd, 3rd) birth mom changes her mind, but I know that that is a possibility and we're willing to go through that to support this mission.
So here's where we're at. When I talked with our agency they said the need is the greatest in the African American program. They have trouble getting enough adoptive families. So that's the program we signed up for. We are STILL waiting for fingerprints!!! And we have just ordered our family info book for the birth moms to look at. Once the agency has our home study (which is completely done except for the fingerprints) and our family books, they will give our books to the social workers and its only a matter of time! I may have purchased a new baby item the other day ( :
Prayer requests:
-that we get our finger prints back (this week please?)
-the health of the birth mom and baby that will choose us (and for the birth moms/babies that aren't going to choose us as well)
-the agency
-fundraising
-and children around the world who need homes
This seems like a completely new direction for us, but really it's not. We were called to adoption for sure. I don't really think it matters where from.
It might take a while for me to let go of the idea of Ethiopia. We were so focused on Ethiopia for the past 6 months. And I think that sometimes the church can be so globally focused that we can tend to overlook how much missions are needed here in the US. Well, with over 1 million abortions performed each year in the US (that's over 3,000 per working day) it is clear that the mission of the agency we are working with in Georgia is so necessary. No matter where in the world you look, you will find children who just need someone to give them a chance at life.
So the downside to going this route is that it may be full of heartbreak for us. We have been told that the main mission at this agency is to the birth moms and not the adoptive families. Their goal is to provide an alternative to abortion and counseling. Only 1 in 10 moms that receives free counseling actually relinquishes their baby, and over 50% of moms change their mind about relinquishing. So we are viewing this as a ministry first, and a way to grow our family second. I know I will be heartbroken if our first (2nd, 3rd) birth mom changes her mind, but I know that that is a possibility and we're willing to go through that to support this mission.
So here's where we're at. When I talked with our agency they said the need is the greatest in the African American program. They have trouble getting enough adoptive families. So that's the program we signed up for. We are STILL waiting for fingerprints!!! And we have just ordered our family info book for the birth moms to look at. Once the agency has our home study (which is completely done except for the fingerprints) and our family books, they will give our books to the social workers and its only a matter of time! I may have purchased a new baby item the other day ( :
Prayer requests:
-that we get our finger prints back (this week please?)
-the health of the birth mom and baby that will choose us (and for the birth moms/babies that aren't going to choose us as well)
-the agency
-fundraising
-and children around the world who need homes
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Aydin: Thoughts on Adoption
Who are we waiting for?... "Baby Beckett"
(she may have already helped us pick out a name : )
Who is baby Beckett?.... "Our brother."
Why isn't he here yet?... "Because we don't have our fingerprints or our van."
Where is he coming from?... "Ethiopia? I don't know."
Why are we adopting?... "Because Rykin is mean sometimes..." (whispers in my ear, "he hits.")
Follow up... We are adopting because we already made two great kids, and now we want to give someone a chance who needs a mom and dad, and a family who can take care of him.
What is adoption?... "To adopt someone that no one else can have when they're born. And we're getting him from a different place now, so we're going to have him be with us if they don't have a place to be taked cared of. And they will let us have the baby, and when they do that we can help him, and take care of him. And when they know who we are we will show him all the toys we have and let him have all the food he wants. And when he grows up he can tell us what he wants. And we can tell him what time it is... bedtime, or daytime, or lunch time. And we can still have him. And if toys get broken we can fix it for him. And he can have new friends, and when he has that many friends he can play with all of them. And when he is born he can be adopted to be with anyone he likes."
...sometimes she talks more in five minutes than any of you have heard in one year
What are you excited about?... "To sing a song for him. What about we make up a song for him?"
Is there anything you are worried about?... "I'm worried about if he doesn't stay healthy."
What do you think he will look like?... "Kind of like baby Micah."
Who's baby is he going to be?... "Ours. He's going to be our baby."
What kind of stuff do we need for a baby?... "A diaper, and a bottle, and a ....um wipes, and we need him to come here faster."
What would he like to eat?... "Uh spaghetti."
Is there anything else you want to say about it?... "I want to get baby Beckett to know who is going to have him so he doesn't get afraid of anyone." To Rykin... "Rykin when baby Beckett gets here can you not hit him or bite him when he comes? 'Cause he is going to be a baby." Rykin, "Uh ok, I won't!" Aydin, "Write that I am going to take care of him...A-Y-D-I-N. I want him not to get afraid in the van, and feel like everyone is going to take care of him. That's all I needed to have said, that's too many things for me to say."
(she may have already helped us pick out a name : )
Who is baby Beckett?.... "Our brother."
Why isn't he here yet?... "Because we don't have our fingerprints or our van."
Where is he coming from?... "Ethiopia? I don't know."
Why are we adopting?... "Because Rykin is mean sometimes..." (whispers in my ear, "he hits.")
Follow up... We are adopting because we already made two great kids, and now we want to give someone a chance who needs a mom and dad, and a family who can take care of him.
What is adoption?... "To adopt someone that no one else can have when they're born. And we're getting him from a different place now, so we're going to have him be with us if they don't have a place to be taked cared of. And they will let us have the baby, and when they do that we can help him, and take care of him. And when they know who we are we will show him all the toys we have and let him have all the food he wants. And when he grows up he can tell us what he wants. And we can tell him what time it is... bedtime, or daytime, or lunch time. And we can still have him. And if toys get broken we can fix it for him. And he can have new friends, and when he has that many friends he can play with all of them. And when he is born he can be adopted to be with anyone he likes."
...sometimes she talks more in five minutes than any of you have heard in one year
What are you excited about?... "To sing a song for him. What about we make up a song for him?"
Is there anything you are worried about?... "I'm worried about if he doesn't stay healthy."
What do you think he will look like?... "Kind of like baby Micah."
Who's baby is he going to be?... "Ours. He's going to be our baby."
What kind of stuff do we need for a baby?... "A diaper, and a bottle, and a ....um wipes, and we need him to come here faster."
What would he like to eat?... "Uh spaghetti."
Is there anything else you want to say about it?... "I want to get baby Beckett to know who is going to have him so he doesn't get afraid of anyone." To Rykin... "Rykin when baby Beckett gets here can you not hit him or bite him when he comes? 'Cause he is going to be a baby." Rykin, "Uh ok, I won't!" Aydin, "Write that I am going to take care of him...A-Y-D-I-N. I want him not to get afraid in the van, and feel like everyone is going to take care of him. That's all I needed to have said, that's too many things for me to say."
P.S. on the fundraising front our time table has moved up a bit. We were thinking we had 3 years or so to raise our funds...easy! Now we are looking at 12 months or less. Still have no doubt that God will provide, but God has never promised that I can just sit on my hands and watch everything fall into place. We have heard amazing success stories about adoption garage sales, and I can't think of a better way to involve our community in this process and ministry. Soooo, while you are spring cleaning keep this in mind. We are going to need your help. We will start collecting donations for our first adoption fundraising garage sale soon. We are excited to see how God can work in this. More about this soon.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Plans
Isaiah 46:11- "...What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do!"
Fingerprints taking 5-6 months to clear... Meh. This adoption will happen. God knows our baby.
And I know that God will use this adoption to minister in ways I may never realize. I pray that I don't ever get in the way of that!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Domestic Adoption?
So, when we started the adoption process 6 months ago, the agency that we are working with reported a wait time of 18-24 months. In the past 6 months that wait has increase to 24-30 months, and they are advertising a wait time of 24-42 months for new applicants. Such a long wait, an its hard to say how long it will be in the end. Anyway, we decided to research some other options while we are waiting for our fingerprints.
We started talking a bit about domestic adoption. The further into this process we get, the more we realize that domestic or abroad, adoption is a necessary ministry. The needs are just different here.
We have read so many stories of the heartache that can be involved with domestic adoption, so we were pretty skeptical about it. However, when I asked the director of our local agency about domestic adoption she mentioned an agency in another state that is looking for adoptive families.
I spoke with the director of the African American program there yesterday and I was so excited by what we talked about! Their agency has such an amazing ministry that offers free counseling and an alternative to abortion. The fees are higher with them because their main focus is on the ministry to the birth mothers that they help.
Oh, and the wait time... Anytime-1 year!!!
Right now we are praying for some guidance. We can't go wrong either way, which makes this decision even harder. If you could pray with us it would be greatly appreciated!
We started talking a bit about domestic adoption. The further into this process we get, the more we realize that domestic or abroad, adoption is a necessary ministry. The needs are just different here.
We have read so many stories of the heartache that can be involved with domestic adoption, so we were pretty skeptical about it. However, when I asked the director of our local agency about domestic adoption she mentioned an agency in another state that is looking for adoptive families.
I spoke with the director of the African American program there yesterday and I was so excited by what we talked about! Their agency has such an amazing ministry that offers free counseling and an alternative to abortion. The fees are higher with them because their main focus is on the ministry to the birth mothers that they help.
Oh, and the wait time... Anytime-1 year!!!
Right now we are praying for some guidance. We can't go wrong either way, which makes this decision even harder. If you could pray with us it would be greatly appreciated!
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Just Love Coffee Roasters
A while back a friend sent me a link to "The Ultimate List of Adoption Fundraisers." I finally clicked to read through what they had listed and found some great ideas. I'm pretty excited about the fundraiser that I am sharing with you today because it fits perfectly with what I am already doing with the coffee sleeves on Etsy. It's an online coffee shop! And they contribute proceeds from every sale through our William's family storefront directly to us for our adoption! Can't imagine a better fundraiser, and I may even have a hard time not contributing to our own adoption through coffee sales to myself ( : And so here is the link for this amazing coffee shop with a passion for orphan care! If you go to the shop and click on the link to "Coffee With a Heart" you can read more about how this coffee shop got their start. It is inspiring to say the least.
https://justlovecoffee.com/john1418goods
And I am also excited to announce that Everyday Joe's coffee shop in old town Ft. Collins has agreed to partner with us to sell my coffee sleeves. They give 100% of the proceeds back to our adoption fund. So you can spot those there beginning in April, and enjoy a cup of coffee in a great atmosphere!
You can find the link for our Just Love Coffee Roasters storefront to the right of my blog as well.
https://justlovecoffee.com/john1418goods
And I am also excited to announce that Everyday Joe's coffee shop in old town Ft. Collins has agreed to partner with us to sell my coffee sleeves. They give 100% of the proceeds back to our adoption fund. So you can spot those there beginning in April, and enjoy a cup of coffee in a great atmosphere!
You can find the link for our Just Love Coffee Roasters storefront to the right of my blog as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)