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.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Home Study...Check
We have finished our home study!!! We had our last interview last week. Overall it went well, I thought. This is what we have left before we can send our dossier to Ethiopia:
-Fingerprint background check (should have these back in a few weeks)
-Passport renewal (also should be back in a few weeks)
-8 more hours of training
-USCIS (US Immigration) approval (should be done about a month after fingerprints/passport come back)
-keep on saving $ (I'm pretty confident that when the time is right to submit or dossier, God will have provided every cent that we need. Not even worried about that one.)
-Reference Letters
And that is it! The list is sooooo much shorter now than when we first started. Phew! So we are still thinking that we should be ready to send our dossier to Ethiopia at the end of May/beginning of June. Please pray that everything goes smoothly in these last couple of months.
-Fingerprint background check (should have these back in a few weeks)
-Passport renewal (also should be back in a few weeks)
-8 more hours of training
-USCIS (US Immigration) approval (should be done about a month after fingerprints/passport come back)
-keep on saving $ (I'm pretty confident that when the time is right to submit or dossier, God will have provided every cent that we need. Not even worried about that one.)
-Reference Letters
And that is it! The list is sooooo much shorter now than when we first started. Phew! So we are still thinking that we should be ready to send our dossier to Ethiopia at the end of May/beginning of June. Please pray that everything goes smoothly in these last couple of months.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Depraved Indifference
Last Saturday we were invited to a concert at a small college chapel called Ellerslie. A couple from that college has started and is running a ministry called "His Little Feet." I have included the link to the right of my blog. What an amazing ministry. They have gathered orphans from all over the world to tour the United States as a choir and spread awareness for the mission of orphan care. I was so blessed to witness the love of God in these kids! If you have a chance to go to one of their concerts, don't miss it. The video below is a message put together by the pastor of the church at Ellerslie. Please take the time to watch this!
Monday, February 18, 2013
Orphan Care (you had to know this was coming eventually)
Adoption is definitely not for everyone. I have had a lot of people tell me how amazing and wonderful they think it is that we are doing this. People have said that this is a big deal, a huge undertaking, and incredible commitment. Well, sure. I have heard, "we could never," and people have asked, "What made you want to do this?" My answer, "We asked for a job and God put this on our hearts."
What I really want to say is this, "We have all been called to orphan care. All of us." Adoption isn't for everyone, but orphan care is. That I feel like we have been called to orphan care is completely supported by God's word. Father of the fatherless! I know that not everyone wants to hear this. Haven't we all seen the commercials with the hunger stricken kids and the sad music and rolled our eyes and changed the channel? But, here it is...
Isaiah 1:17- "Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of the orphans. Fight for the rights of the widows."
Matthew 18:5- "And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."
Matthew 25:45- "...I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me."
James 1:27- "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."
I know that not everyone can adopt. But there are ways for every one of us to care for orphans in one way or another, even if it is taking a pack of diapers to foster family, or sending a card of encouragement to a family who has recently adopted. Make this your mission too. I have included a list of a couple of links for orphan care to the right, and I intend to keep adding as I find them.
I received the following in my email the other day, and I feel that it is definitely worth sharing.
Two-Thousand Times More Effective
What I really want to say is this, "We have all been called to orphan care. All of us." Adoption isn't for everyone, but orphan care is. That I feel like we have been called to orphan care is completely supported by God's word. Father of the fatherless! I know that not everyone wants to hear this. Haven't we all seen the commercials with the hunger stricken kids and the sad music and rolled our eyes and changed the channel? But, here it is...
Isaiah 1:17- "Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of the orphans. Fight for the rights of the widows."
Matthew 18:5- "And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."
Matthew 25:45- "...I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me."
James 1:27- "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."
I know that not everyone can adopt. But there are ways for every one of us to care for orphans in one way or another, even if it is taking a pack of diapers to foster family, or sending a card of encouragement to a family who has recently adopted. Make this your mission too. I have included a list of a couple of links for orphan care to the right, and I intend to keep adding as I find them.
I received the following in my email the other day, and I feel that it is definitely worth sharing.
Two-Thousand Times More Effective
by Max Lucado
Two-thousand years ago the disciples of Jesus started a movement that changed the world. Are we still changing the world? We can. We can be two-thousand times more effective—if we only try!
Here’s an example. There are 145 million orphans worldwide. Nearly 236 million of us living in the U.S. call ourselves Christian. From a purely statistical standpoint, by ourselves, we have the wherewithal to house every orphan in the world. There’s enough food on the planet to feed the hungry! But the storehouse is locked.
God has given our generation everything we need to alter the course of human suffering. Change must start with us! With our transformation! Ours is the wealthiest generation of Christians ever! We can be more effective—if only we try!
Monday, January 28, 2013
The 1st Home Study Visit...
We had our first home study visit last Tuesday evening. I was so nervous about it!!! I cleaned every corner in our house. I think I was mostly nervous just because I didn't really know what to expect. I didn't have anything to be worried about though. Our social worker was sweet, and the visit was very low key and relaxed. It sounds like we are in for a series of three, hour long interviews, and that is about all I know. Anyway, it went well and we are ready for the next one tomorrow night (1/29). I have not even begun cleaning this time around. Maybe I should give her the real deal this time... with a mountain of clean laundry spilling off of the couch. Ha! If you know me, you know there is no way I'm going to let her see that. I'll put it all in our bedroom and close the door.
For those of you who have been praying, thank you so much! The support of our friends and family is really going to make the difference in this long process. It already has.
Our prayer requests remain the same:
-that our fingerprint checks get through quickly
-that we are able to raise the funds needed for our dossier submission
-for the health and safety of our child (who we do not know, and may or may not yet be born)
-and always for the millions of orphans around the world who are waiting for their families
*If you feel lead to help support us financially I have included a link to my Etsy shop on my blog page to the right of this post. My hope is that this shop will take off, and that after we have raised our funds we can use the money earned from my shop to help support the orphanage and transition home that our kiddo will have lived in.
We also have an account through America World Adoption Agency and their Eternal family program. AWAA will accept contributions on our behalf and will provide a letter or email for you as a receipt. I have included a link to this as well where you will find more information. Please make sure that you use the "notes" section to designate "Jesse and Kara Williams" and the Eternal Family Program.
For those of you who have been praying, thank you so much! The support of our friends and family is really going to make the difference in this long process. It already has.
Our prayer requests remain the same:
-that our fingerprint checks get through quickly
-that we are able to raise the funds needed for our dossier submission
-for the health and safety of our child (who we do not know, and may or may not yet be born)
-and always for the millions of orphans around the world who are waiting for their families
*If you feel lead to help support us financially I have included a link to my Etsy shop on my blog page to the right of this post. My hope is that this shop will take off, and that after we have raised our funds we can use the money earned from my shop to help support the orphanage and transition home that our kiddo will have lived in.
We also have an account through America World Adoption Agency and their Eternal family program. AWAA will accept contributions on our behalf and will provide a letter or email for you as a receipt. I have included a link to this as well where you will find more information. Please make sure that you use the "notes" section to designate "Jesse and Kara Williams" and the Eternal Family Program.
Friday, January 18, 2013
At this point...
"Paper pregnancy?"
I have never liked that reference! But now I totally get it. This is where we are now. We have been accepted to an agency that will facilitate our Ethiopian adoption, and we have been accepted to a local agency that will be doing our home study. We are gathering all of the necessary documents for both our home study, and our dossier to Ethiopia. There are a lot.
But back to the reference to a paper pregnancy. I mentioned to Jesse the other night that this feels like the first couple of months of pregnancy when you have been told that you are pregnant, but there is no real evidence of it. No one can see your progress, and even you doubt that it is really happening. At this point you look for signs of it everywhere. Every document that has been reviewed and approved is like another inch around my middle and I am so happy for it! Look how thick my stack of papers is getting!! Can you see it? The progress? Do I "look pregnant" yet? Jesse told me, "Get ready for three years of feeling like this."
It is looking like we should have our dossier ready to go to Ethiopia sometime in June. We had originally thought that we could be done with our home study and dossier by mid April, but fingerprint background checks are taking around 4 months right now due to high demand (so many people out stocking up on guns.) After our dossier is in we get put on a waiting list for a referral for our third kiddo. The wait time right now is 24-30 months for a child 0-3.
And we have just scheduled our first home study visit. I don't have any idea what to expect, but I have turned into some kind of cleaning/organizing freak. I'm sure it will be great, and that I'll be slightly dissapointed to find out that she won't even ask to see our closets.
Our prayer requests right now are:
-that our fingerprint checks get through quickly
-that we are able to raise the funds needed for our dossier submission
-for the health and safety of our child (who we do not know, and may or may not yet be born)
-and always for the millions of orphans around the world who are waiting for their families
I have never liked that reference! But now I totally get it. This is where we are now. We have been accepted to an agency that will facilitate our Ethiopian adoption, and we have been accepted to a local agency that will be doing our home study. We are gathering all of the necessary documents for both our home study, and our dossier to Ethiopia. There are a lot.
But back to the reference to a paper pregnancy. I mentioned to Jesse the other night that this feels like the first couple of months of pregnancy when you have been told that you are pregnant, but there is no real evidence of it. No one can see your progress, and even you doubt that it is really happening. At this point you look for signs of it everywhere. Every document that has been reviewed and approved is like another inch around my middle and I am so happy for it! Look how thick my stack of papers is getting!! Can you see it? The progress? Do I "look pregnant" yet? Jesse told me, "Get ready for three years of feeling like this."
It is looking like we should have our dossier ready to go to Ethiopia sometime in June. We had originally thought that we could be done with our home study and dossier by mid April, but fingerprint background checks are taking around 4 months right now due to high demand (so many people out stocking up on guns.) After our dossier is in we get put on a waiting list for a referral for our third kiddo. The wait time right now is 24-30 months for a child 0-3.
And we have just scheduled our first home study visit. I don't have any idea what to expect, but I have turned into some kind of cleaning/organizing freak. I'm sure it will be great, and that I'll be slightly dissapointed to find out that she won't even ask to see our closets.
Our prayer requests right now are:
-that our fingerprint checks get through quickly
-that we are able to raise the funds needed for our dossier submission
-for the health and safety of our child (who we do not know, and may or may not yet be born)
-and always for the millions of orphans around the world who are waiting for their families
Getting started...
In October we got the ball rolling. We called around to a lot of agencies asking about their Africa programs and getting as much information as we could. We really don't know anyone firsthand who has adopted from Africa, so I felt a little in the dark trying to find an agency that seemed ethical and trustworthy. Reading reviews on the Internet can feel like a punch in the stomach. If you dig enough you read some pretty scary sounding stuff. But after quite a bit of researching we found our agency.
We decided that we would put aside the hopes of having an adoption completed in a year, for the security of a process that appears to be very ethical. So we applied, and were accepted into a program for an Ethiopian adoption. There are a few countries in Africa that are open to adoption. Some of them are pilot programs, where details are sketchy and the process is being developed around your adoption. Ethiopia has been open to adoption for a while now, and the process there seems to be ironed out pretty well. Having two little kids already, we just aren't open to leaving too much to chance with this adoption.
After being accepted we decided to share the news with friends and family. Telling people that you are adopting isn't quite the same as announcing a pregnancy. There was quite a mixed response. Anywhere from excitement and support, to fear and concern. Some of the responses were a bit disheartening, but many others left us feeling wholly supported.
The kids were pretty fun to tell. Rykin is only two, and doesn't really get it, so his reaction could be equated to, "Meh, whatever." Aydin is completely excited. She considered what we were telling her, agreed that it was a good idea, and asked that it please be a sister. She stopped me one night at bed time and said, "Mom we're going to have three girls and two boys!" I replied, "Or we might have three boys and two girls." "No," she said, "It can be three girls and two boys, or three girls and three boys." I explained to her how this whole thing works using the example of snack time at school, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." She now prays every night and at every meal for her baby brother or sister. The week before Christmas she asked us when her baby brother or sister was going to be here. "Not for a while," I told her. She said, "Well maybe in three days when it's Christmas they can be here." This is going to be a long wait for her.
A long wait for us all.
We decided that we would put aside the hopes of having an adoption completed in a year, for the security of a process that appears to be very ethical. So we applied, and were accepted into a program for an Ethiopian adoption. There are a few countries in Africa that are open to adoption. Some of them are pilot programs, where details are sketchy and the process is being developed around your adoption. Ethiopia has been open to adoption for a while now, and the process there seems to be ironed out pretty well. Having two little kids already, we just aren't open to leaving too much to chance with this adoption.
After being accepted we decided to share the news with friends and family. Telling people that you are adopting isn't quite the same as announcing a pregnancy. There was quite a mixed response. Anywhere from excitement and support, to fear and concern. Some of the responses were a bit disheartening, but many others left us feeling wholly supported.
The kids were pretty fun to tell. Rykin is only two, and doesn't really get it, so his reaction could be equated to, "Meh, whatever." Aydin is completely excited. She considered what we were telling her, agreed that it was a good idea, and asked that it please be a sister. She stopped me one night at bed time and said, "Mom we're going to have three girls and two boys!" I replied, "Or we might have three boys and two girls." "No," she said, "It can be three girls and two boys, or three girls and three boys." I explained to her how this whole thing works using the example of snack time at school, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." She now prays every night and at every meal for her baby brother or sister. The week before Christmas she asked us when her baby brother or sister was going to be here. "Not for a while," I told her. She said, "Well maybe in three days when it's Christmas they can be here." This is going to be a long wait for her.
A long wait for us all.
The beginning...
I have gone back and forth about beginning an adoption blog, but as personal as I feel this journey is, I have also gotten so much comfort and reassurance from reading other family's blogs. And let's be honest, these days this is about the easiest way to share updates for friends and family. And so here is our story...
Our decision to adopt is based on a
calling. No, we did not hear the voice
of God say in a booming voice, “You are to adopt an orphan.” And yet, I am 100% sure that God put this on
our hearts. 100%.
I think as humans we all seem to have a bit of a crutch that we can tend to lean on. For Jesse it was a sense of security. For me it was a craving to control everything. We have reached a point in our lives where we feel like we are pretty secure, and have a pretty good handle on things for the time being. And for that reason, we decided to stop at two kids and live comfortably for as long as possible. But God has been working in our hearts.
I think as humans we all seem to have a bit of a crutch that we can tend to lean on. For Jesse it was a sense of security. For me it was a craving to control everything. We have reached a point in our lives where we feel like we are pretty secure, and have a pretty good handle on things for the time being. And for that reason, we decided to stop at two kids and live comfortably for as long as possible. But God has been working in our hearts.
In June 2012 Jesse read the book
“Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. Through
that book God showed him that security and comfort are both well and good,
but not a worthy investment for the kingdom of heaven. We are called to help those less fortunate
than us. We are to have hearts of
compassion, and bless others with what God has entrusted us.
This past summer I felt God challenging me to let go of my fear to lose control, and honestly ask Him how He can use my life. For me this has been a
process of letting the Holy Spirit show me to give up control to God one step at a
time, moving closer to Him all the while.
And I am finding that the more control I give up, the more I want God to
take control. And prayers for the Holy Spirit's guidance, have led to an amazing and exciting request.
Mid
August 2012 Jesse and I watched a movie about a missionary who opened a refugee
orphanage in Sudan. The images and the
reality of what is happening there haunted us.
And so we began to pray for God to show
us how we could help. If you pray enough for God to let you know what He wants from you...He will let you know! ”What if we adopted?," popped out of my mouth. Jesse and I
have talked about adoption before, but in more of a, "I could see us doing that someday" kind of way. So this was not a completely crazy response, and
we left it as something we would pray about. At that time Jesse had made it clear that he was thinking 10+ years down the road.
And so we
began to think and pray about it, but didn’t really talk about it after that. As
I prayed I began to feel more and more like God was putting it on my heart to
adopt sooner rather than later. I
attended a Women of Faith conference at the end of September and came home
feeling certain about this. I needed to know where Jesse was with this,
so one evening I just asked him, “What age kid do you think we should adopt, and
how soon are you thinking?” His response
was 1-5 years old, and within the next 5 years.
I was amazed that without having previously discussed this we were in
the same frame of mind about it. And the
more we prayed and thought about it, the more certain we both were that this is
what God has planned for us, and this is what he is asking of our lives.
So here
we are. Each of us has been growing so
much closer to God in the past year, and while this has looked so much
different for each of us, it has lead us to the same place. God has shown Jesse that living your life to
the fullest for God means leaving your security in His hands, and using His
blessings to care for "the least of these."
And I am giving the Holy Spirit room to move my life. He has asked me to begin a process that I
really won’t be able to control, and I am finding that it is drawing me closer
to God every day. We couldn’t be more
excited to begin the adoption process.
This is our mission and we are ready.
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