Calling all Prayer Warriors!

As most of you know, we were matched with our precious little girl on Friday, July 15! We can not put her picture on social media, but if you see me or Britt we will gladly show you a picture!! 

The next day, I was added to an India Adoption group on Facebook. I was able to ask/look up information about the state of India that she is in. But it led to some major discouragement. Here are some of the things I read...

• Mine was an unusual case (hopefully) and we had a terrible process (2 years and 4 months from referral to travel)
• 18 months from referral to home. One year of this spent in court...
• We received referral in July 2015 and are scheduled for court July 11 2016.
• I was the shortest at 15 months from referral to home.
• Lots of problems with court. Judges not very enlightened or in favor of international adoption.
• Courts are generally not super favorable of international adoption and may drag their feet or worse, do nothing.
• We haven't received anything from them (the orphanage) after the referral pic 

BUT...I also read this truth...

And a phrase from a text that my brother-in-law sent me after we were approved by CARA just kept coming to my mind over and over again...

 

"God is moving mountains."

 

 

Please pray with us that God will get our baby girl home before her 3rd birthday in April. We have already missed 2 birthdays with her. It breaks my heart thinking of her sitting in an orphanage when she has a family that loves and wants her!

 

Pray that God will direct every person and every step to get our girl home soon.

 

Pray God's healing and protective hand on our daughter.

 

On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.

2 Corinthians 1:10-11

 

 

We really appreciate your prayers!

 

Now let me brag on our awesome God...

Every single day since we have been matched He has put things in front of me as a comfort, as a lesson, as hope. It has been through 2 different devotional books (New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp and Journey Magazine through Lifeway), Social Media, and even walking through Hobby Lobby and Lifeway!

 

I will leave you with some of the truths He has put in my path...

• God is the ultimate Judge, bigger and more powerful than the judges in India.
• Satan HATES these babies being brought into a God-honoring family, but God is bigger and more powerful than him.
• "God's grace calls you to suffer and it calls you to wait, but it never calls you to stand in your own strength or to stand alone." Paul David Tripp
• He (God) loves her more than I do and has the best for her (Psalm 139:16) - Kailey Birkeland
• When we walk in difficult places, God sends the strength and nourishment to face what comes our way, not all at once, but day by day.
• Heaven is holding conversations about you right now. Angels have been assigned to you. The Father is at work on your behalf. - Toby Mac
• The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. Exodus 14:14
• The Lord your God who goes before you will fight for you. Deuteronomy 1:3
• From the director at our agency...

 

Please pray along with us!

"The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect." James 5:16 (HCSB)

 

 



Guess what?!?!

We have been matched with baby sister!!!

 

 

 

It's amazing how we are already so in love with that precious face that is over 8,000 miles away from us on the other side of the world!

 

She is 2 years old...8 months younger than Matthew. But she is so tiny! She was left at a police station at 3 days old. I am so thankful her birth mother chose life for her!  

 

The most frequently asked question we have gotten with this news is, "When will you be able to go get her?" We do not have an answer for that. We have to wait for the courts in India to finish the adoption process on their side. Once it is done our agency will call us and tell us to book our flight! We are praying it will move quickly and at the latest be traveling to get her in March. Her birthday is in April.

 

 

I still can't get over this past week...just crazy, amazing, blessed!!

Here is a timeline...

 

 

Monday night (July 11) around 8:00 p.m. -

I saw the e-mail from Terri Thompson sent around 6:30 p.m. that we were registered with CARA

 

Wednesday morning (July 13) around 7:30 a.m. -

Phone call from Terri saying we were approved with CARA in just 2 days!!

 

Friday (July 15) -

We had a lazy morning at home before the boys and I left for the lake. I told Britt that I was starting to get anxious and just needed something to work on towards the adoption.

 

11:00 a.m. Our door bell rang. It was FedEx with our i800a paperwork! God gave me something to work towards. Yay!

(the i800a is the paperwork that will allow us to bring her into the United States)

 

12:00 p.m. The boys and I went on to the lake to visit with my in-laws and cousins. Britt went to Montgomery for a funeral.

 

2:41 p.m. We were going out on the boat for the kids to tube and realized Eli did not have his life jacket, so we turned around to go get it. Right before heading back out my phone rings and I see Pat Lee across my screen. Ms. Pat is the director of Children of the World. She told me she had a match for us and that she would e-mail me her picture and information.

 

2:54 p.m. I call Britt...it took 4 tries to get him (he was at the funeral).

 I forwarded the e-mail from Ms. Pat to Britt for him to look at. After about an hour of phone calls and texts back and forth (we were looking over her medical information and special needs) I got this text from Britt...

 

5:30 p.m. Britt and I were finally both back at home, so we called Ms. Pat to ask a few more questions and then told her we wanted to be matched! She said she would look on the portal to be sure she was still there and get us matched if so. She said she would text us to let us know.  

 

8:25 p.m. 3 hours later we finally got this from Ms. Pat.

 I am SO glad we had a couple from church over last night for supper. It helped with my anxiety! And let me just say...the problem with the portal did not surprise me at all...I swear Satan has attacked computers, connections, etc. through our whole process so far. Please pray him away from the rest of our process in Jesus name!!

 

10:05 p.m. From Ms. Pat!!

 

Ahhhh!!! I just can't believe it! I don't feel deserving, but SO thankful!

Now the really hard part...not being able to go get her for who knows how long.

 

Please pray everything goes smoothly and we can get our girl home soon!

 

 

 

Oh. My. Gosh.

Those are the words I said (Oh. My. Gosh.) as I was listening to a voicemail from Terri from Children of the World at 7:30 this morning (while also scaring my poor husband)!

 

Here's what I heard... 

“I’m sorry it’s early, but I have really good news, I wanted to let you know that CARA has already approved you all as adoptive parents. So you’re all ready for a match. So a process that normally takes 2 to 12 weeks, it took you 2 days! So that’s very exciting and we are all jumping up and down…she’ll (Ms. Pat) be looking for a match for you today, so if you can be around your phone that will be great.”

 

2 days!?

I just keep thinking this can't be real or maybe they got the wrong people, haha!

I called Terri back, and she said us and another couple were both approved this quickly.

Crazy!

We could be matched with our daughter today or it could be weeks from now. Ms. Pat will be looking at girls, 0-2 years old, that fit the list of special needs we listed.

Please, please pray for wisdom and guidance for us during this time!

More to come...

 

 

 

 

We are registered with CARA!!!

As I was rocking a screaming 2 year old tonight around 8:00 (he was upset because he wanted to watch Minions for the 4th time today, I am not even kidding, instead of going to bed), I decided to check e-mail on my phone. This is what I saw...

Ahhhhhh!!! We are SO excited! I e-mailed Terri on Friday to see if she had our home study report in. She had not seen it yet. Then at supper tonight Britt was asking me if I had heard anything. I told him I had just e-mailed Friday so I didn't expect to hear anything today. So it was an awesome surprise to see that e-mail tonight!

You can read exactly what CARA is in my last blog post (just click here). Now that we are registered we wait to be approved to adopt a child in India. It can take anywhere from 4-12 weeks. So hopefully, at the latest, we will be approved by October!

Once we are approved we can be matched with a child! We started this process 8 months ago. A lot of people only take a month or two, but we had some things that held us up. You can click here to read about that. But Britt and I both know that the 8 months and how ever long it will take India to approve us is just God's hand leading us straight to our daughter!

 

Thank you for the continued prayers and support!

 

 

Long overdue update...

We are done with our home study!!!

 

 

Our first home study was on May 28. Our social worker looked around the house and then interviewed Britt and I together. June 11th was our second visit and she interviewed us separately. Then on June 30th we received the home study report via e-mail for us to look over and correct any typos before it is sent to Children of the World, our adoption agency.

 

 

Children of the World will put the home study report in our dossier and send it on to India to get us registered with CARA. CARA is the Central Adoption Resource Authority for the country of India.  It is the government entity that oversees adoptions in India. They will review all the paperwork we filled out and gathered for them. This can take anywhere from 4-12 weeks! But once we are approved to adopt from their country we can be matched with a child!!

 

 

While we are waiting to hear from CARA, our agency will get us started on our i800a. It is done through USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Services).  It is basically us asking permission to bring an immigrant orphan in to the United States.

 

 

 

If you want to read a really cool God story from another Children of the World family, click on the link below...

http://www.toindiawithlove.org/2016/07/a-perfect-gift-from-above.html?m=1

 

I was literally in tears reading about the Napiontek family being matched with their precious daughter! I CAN NOT wait to see our baby girl's face!! But as my brother would tell me, "you have to wait." ; )

 

I am so in love with this Stella and Dot locket I just got! (The picture above was taken with my cell phone!) When we are finally matched with our baby girl her picture will be going in this locket!!

 

I ordered through Amelia Davis. She and her husband are in the adoption process also and she sells Stella and Dot to raise money for their adoption. Go check out all the cute things...

http://www.stelladot.com/ts/v22d6

#supportadoption

 

I celebrated my 35th birthday on July 5th and I LOVE the card our 8 year old made for me...

Translation: Caleb, MattMatt, Mom, me, Dad, Baby Sister! Melt my heart!!

 

And just because I love pictures, here are some of my favorites from our summer so far...

Matthew loved Rockin' Jump 

Caleb behind the curtain helping Britt with the bible story time at VBS 

 We went with Britt to Wake Forest, NC for his week long doctorate class.

While he was in class we found fun things to do around the area.

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

 Marbles Children's Museum (with the CUTEST fireman I ever saw!)

We went to Panama City Beach with my parents, sister and her family, and brother and his family

 Matthew loved those helicopters flying over

 Our family beach picture (Can't wait to have baby sister in the picture!)

 Fun with cousins and a baby alligator at the beach

So excited that my Belgian niece and her best friend (far left) were able to come to America for a visit! Louise (4th from the left) was an exchange student with my sister (3rd from the left) and her husband in 2014-2015. Also pictured is my momma (2nd) and my sister-in-law (5th). :)

Another awesome cell phone picture taken by my daddy! Eli loves to fish! 

More cousin fun at the lake

 Happy 4th of July!

Fun with the water camera on Lake Martin 

 

 

 

Please pray that we will get registered with CARA soon and that they will approve us quickly!

Thank you!

Until next time...