Today Josh and I had our second home study! I can't believe how fast everything is moving. We were also officially placed in the Ethiopian Program!! This is also exciting but means more paperwork! Yippee!!...major sarcasm!! LOL! Little did we know that when we started this process it was going to go by SO quick!! Our third home study is next Tuesday...this one Barb is coming to our house! I'm so glad Josh doesn't need to take another whole day off work...those suckers add up fast! She reassured me that I don't need to do to any cleaning, no white glove test. Little does she know that I have too much of my mom in me! I'll be doing an overhaul on the house on Monday to prepare! She pretty much just wants to make sure our house is stable, not a shack and not falling apart!! (If she saw it 2 years ago she might be a little worried!!)
There's a lot going through our minds right now. We did our individual interviews with Barb today and she brought up some really good things to think about. Our community has a majority of Caucasian people with VERY little black. And if you've seen Josh and I...you know we are VERY white!! We need to learn to cope with the looks, comments and just surviving as an interracial family! With that said, we understand there are a lot of people who are very uneducated about adoption, especially international! We are seeing this just with our family and friends! So please, if you have questions, just ask! Adoption is such a beautiful thing and all the hard work now is going to pay off in the end when we have our little girl!
There are SO many tools to educate yourself if you are just curious, thinking about adopting yourselves or just wanting to be able to understand the trials and struggles couples are going through. One way to do this is to go to www.stuckdocumentary.com. Or click on the big heart link to the left of the text. There is a documentary you can watch with a $12.99 donation. It will give you SO much info on international adoption and how you can help and support others. Once you've watched the documentary, go to www.bothendsburning.org and sign the petition. If you haven't watched the documentary, pretty much it educates people on how messed up the system is with adoption. The average adoption process is 3 years and about $20,000 (give or take). This is absolutely ridiculous!! There are children all over the world who are starving, craving attention, dying from mosquito bites, etc and no one in authority is doing anything to make the process quicker and cheaper so willing families can take those children out of those horrible situations! SO...the people of STUCK and Both Ends Burning are coming together to get 1 Million signatures and will be presenting the petition to President Obama on May 17th to try and make a change. If you have not signed the petition, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do so! I cannot express how much change can come from this if everyone just electronically signs this petition. So many lives will be saved and so many children will be able to be adopted by families who desperately want them! How can we live with ourselves knowing there are children dying from the simplest of things and not do anything about it? That could be our future daughter. I know I'm not sitting by and watching!
To wrap up this post, until a change is made, the cost for adoption is constantly rising. And personally, ours is a lot more than the average $20,000. Josh and I are trying to exhaust all avenues before looking into loans. If you are feeling led to help out financially, you can click on our GoFundMe link to the left of the text which will direct you to our personal site where you can donate! Or you can give to us in person! With a minimum of a $15 donation, we will give you a special MudLove bracelet that was made specifically for our adoption as a thank you! If you cannot help financially, your prayers are greatly appreciated! Without the power of Christ behind us, we wouldn't have the strength to finish this process!!
Thank you again for reading this post, for hopefully signing the petition and for supporting us with your love and prayers! Until next time!
We love you all!
-Josh and Renee
My Blog List
Monday, April 29, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Poem-Legacy of an Adopted Child
A few weeks ago one of my clients brought me a poem that she saw in the newspaper! It's just a little something I want to share with everyone!
Legacy of an Adopted Child
Author: Unknown
Once there were two women
Who never knew each other.
One you do not remember.
The other you call mother.
Two different lives
Shaped to make yours one.
One became your guiding star,
The other became your sun.
The first gave you life.
And the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love
And the second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality.
The other gave you a name.
One gave you a seed of talent.
The other gave you an aim.
One gave you emotions,
The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile,
The other dried your tears.
One gave you up-
It was all that she could do.
The other prayed for a child
And God led her straight to you.
And now you ask me
Through your tears,
The age-old question
Through the years:
Heredity or environment
Which are you the product of?
Neither, my darling-neither,
Just two different kinds of love.
This is exactly what adoption is. One woman gave a child a life and another woman helped that child live it. Something we hope to do one day! We pray everyday for our daughter that hopefully isn't born yet, that she will be perfect in her own way!
We love you all!
-Josh and Renee
Legacy of an Adopted Child
Author: Unknown
Once there were two women
Who never knew each other.
One you do not remember.
The other you call mother.
Two different lives
Shaped to make yours one.
One became your guiding star,
The other became your sun.
The first gave you life.
And the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love
And the second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality.
The other gave you a name.
One gave you a seed of talent.
The other gave you an aim.
One gave you emotions,
The other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile,
The other dried your tears.
One gave you up-
It was all that she could do.
The other prayed for a child
And God led her straight to you.
And now you ask me
Through your tears,
The age-old question
Through the years:
Heredity or environment
Which are you the product of?
Neither, my darling-neither,
Just two different kinds of love.
This is exactly what adoption is. One woman gave a child a life and another woman helped that child live it. Something we hope to do one day! We pray everyday for our daughter that hopefully isn't born yet, that she will be perfect in her own way!
We love you all!
-Josh and Renee
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
1st Home Study Visit!!
Today was our first home study visit with our case worker down in Bluffton. We weren't sure what exactly to expect and it went great! We met for about 2 hours just talking about ourselves and getting to know each other! It was great because we learned our case worker is also an adoptive mother so she completely understands what we are going through.
She pretty much outlined for us what our process will be like during the home study and what to expect. What training we need to do and more paperwork! Surprise surprise!! Lol! We talked about how we see each other as a parent, disciplining styles, coping during the wait, etc. A lot of info to take in!
One realization she brought up is what our child will go through even once they are home. She drew a picture for us. Picture a heart drawn on a piece of paper which represents your child's heart. In the middle is a hole. Our child will always have this hole in the middle of their heart. It could be from abandonment, the not knowing, abuse or anything negative related to the adoption process. Surrounding the heart, we can fill it with things like security, fun, family, Jesus, comfort, love and stability. At this point we have a choice. We can either focus our effort on trying to fill that hole or we can focus on the things surrounding the hole that might make that hole a little smaller!
Most of us coming from birth families get that connection as soon as we are born that start to mold us into who we are right away. We hear our mothers voice, the softness and warmth of her skin, the love from her touch. Kids stuck in orphanages and institutions are left staring at a sterile white ceiling, never get soothed when crying, lay in soiled diapers, fed barely anything. My heart breaks for them. And then once/if they are placed with forever families you have to start from the beginning. It's a lot to take in!! Just a little something to think about!
We covered some tough stuff today but Josh and I are ready for the challenge! We are excited to dig into some books and learn as much as we can to prepare ourselves the best we can and to be able, to the best of our ability, provide the best home we can for our daughter!!
We are still working on our ongoing fundraiser with our GoFundMe account to save up for the first round of fees due at the end of the home study. If you would like to support us in this way, the link to our account is on the left side of this blog! Anything is appreciated! As a thank you, for every $15 minimum donation we will send you a special MudLove bracelet that was made specifically for our adoption! These bracelets are to remind us that no matter what challenges and struggles we will have along the way-we need to keep our faith focused on The Creator himself!
Once again, we want to thank you all for your continued love and support and especially your prayers!! You all have a special place in our hearts!! :-)
We love you all-
-Josh and Renee
She pretty much outlined for us what our process will be like during the home study and what to expect. What training we need to do and more paperwork! Surprise surprise!! Lol! We talked about how we see each other as a parent, disciplining styles, coping during the wait, etc. A lot of info to take in!
One realization she brought up is what our child will go through even once they are home. She drew a picture for us. Picture a heart drawn on a piece of paper which represents your child's heart. In the middle is a hole. Our child will always have this hole in the middle of their heart. It could be from abandonment, the not knowing, abuse or anything negative related to the adoption process. Surrounding the heart, we can fill it with things like security, fun, family, Jesus, comfort, love and stability. At this point we have a choice. We can either focus our effort on trying to fill that hole or we can focus on the things surrounding the hole that might make that hole a little smaller!
Most of us coming from birth families get that connection as soon as we are born that start to mold us into who we are right away. We hear our mothers voice, the softness and warmth of her skin, the love from her touch. Kids stuck in orphanages and institutions are left staring at a sterile white ceiling, never get soothed when crying, lay in soiled diapers, fed barely anything. My heart breaks for them. And then once/if they are placed with forever families you have to start from the beginning. It's a lot to take in!! Just a little something to think about!
We covered some tough stuff today but Josh and I are ready for the challenge! We are excited to dig into some books and learn as much as we can to prepare ourselves the best we can and to be able, to the best of our ability, provide the best home we can for our daughter!!
We are still working on our ongoing fundraiser with our GoFundMe account to save up for the first round of fees due at the end of the home study. If you would like to support us in this way, the link to our account is on the left side of this blog! Anything is appreciated! As a thank you, for every $15 minimum donation we will send you a special MudLove bracelet that was made specifically for our adoption! These bracelets are to remind us that no matter what challenges and struggles we will have along the way-we need to keep our faith focused on The Creator himself!
Once again, we want to thank you all for your continued love and support and especially your prayers!! You all have a special place in our hearts!! :-)
We love you all-
-Josh and Renee
Friday, April 5, 2013
Hold Fast...
Josh and I got some exciting news yesterday!! We will be starting our home study on April 17th!! WOO HOO!!! I have been waiting to get this part of the process started because it means we are actually moving in the right direction!! Even though it means we have paperwork that will last forever, it's definitely a good sign!! I got some test results back a few days ago stating that our possibilities of having our own children will be extremely hard, but on the up side its validating that adoption is definitely the right path we want to be on as our way of starting our family!! Knowing our home study is finally underway is getting Josh and I very excited!!
With the excitement of the home study starting, its bringing to light just how quick we are going to need a huge chunk of money to start the next process once the home study is done. Our home study will last up to 4 months...putting us finishing up around the middle of August. Once the home study is completed, the next part of the process is waiting for a referral of a child. Before we can begin the referral process we need to have roughly $15,000. Part of that money is to pay for all the paperwork to be reviewed by multiple people and then to be sent to Ethiopia, part is for us to actually be in the Ethiopian program and the rest is sent to Ethiopia to begin the adoption process there. THAT NUMBER IS SOOO SCARY!! We know that this is something we cannot attain ourselves and as much as we want to, I don't know if we could handle all the stress that trying to find all that money could bring. So we decided to start a GoFundMe account! It is a way that our friends and family can help us out by donating ANY sum of money towards these outrageous fees we have to pay. And I mean ANY sum! Large or small! Anything is appreciated! There is a link to our account on the left side of this post! Please go and check it out and if you are feeling led to support us in this way-you have NO idea how much it would mean to both Josh and I!! If supporting this way is something that is not feasible for you, no problem! Just keep us in your prayers daily that God will continue to give us the strength to continue on in this journey!
As a little bit of an incentive, with a minimum of a $15 donation towards the adoption we want to thank you by sending you a bracelet we had special made for our adoption by MudLove! The word for the bracelet is "Hold Fast" meaning strong in faith. During our struggles of trying to start our own family, we need to be reminded that in order to make it all work, we need to keep our faith first...no matter what! God is the center of our lives, He's in the center of our marriage and He definitely is in the center of our adoption! All we want to do is glorify Him with our lives!
So with a minimum of a $15 donation to us directly or through our GoFundMe account, we will send you a bracelet! (please make sure and leave me your email address also so I can make sure and get details to send the bracelets!) The purpose of the bracelet is that when you look at it, we want it to remind you to say a little prayer for us. We are going to encounter many challenges and struggles along the way and feeling those prayers is really going to help us through this process!!
So please take a few minutes and check it out and if your feeling led to support us in this way...you have no idea how much we appreciate it! THANK YOU SO MUCH! We want all our friends and family to be involved in our adoption and this is an easy tangible way! God bless you all!
We love you all!
-Josh and Renee
www.mudlove.com
With the excitement of the home study starting, its bringing to light just how quick we are going to need a huge chunk of money to start the next process once the home study is done. Our home study will last up to 4 months...putting us finishing up around the middle of August. Once the home study is completed, the next part of the process is waiting for a referral of a child. Before we can begin the referral process we need to have roughly $15,000. Part of that money is to pay for all the paperwork to be reviewed by multiple people and then to be sent to Ethiopia, part is for us to actually be in the Ethiopian program and the rest is sent to Ethiopia to begin the adoption process there. THAT NUMBER IS SOOO SCARY!! We know that this is something we cannot attain ourselves and as much as we want to, I don't know if we could handle all the stress that trying to find all that money could bring. So we decided to start a GoFundMe account! It is a way that our friends and family can help us out by donating ANY sum of money towards these outrageous fees we have to pay. And I mean ANY sum! Large or small! Anything is appreciated! There is a link to our account on the left side of this post! Please go and check it out and if you are feeling led to support us in this way-you have NO idea how much it would mean to both Josh and I!! If supporting this way is something that is not feasible for you, no problem! Just keep us in your prayers daily that God will continue to give us the strength to continue on in this journey!
As a little bit of an incentive, with a minimum of a $15 donation towards the adoption we want to thank you by sending you a bracelet we had special made for our adoption by MudLove! The word for the bracelet is "Hold Fast" meaning strong in faith. During our struggles of trying to start our own family, we need to be reminded that in order to make it all work, we need to keep our faith first...no matter what! God is the center of our lives, He's in the center of our marriage and He definitely is in the center of our adoption! All we want to do is glorify Him with our lives!
So please take a few minutes and check it out and if your feeling led to support us in this way...you have no idea how much we appreciate it! THANK YOU SO MUCH! We want all our friends and family to be involved in our adoption and this is an easy tangible way! God bless you all!
We love you all!
-Josh and Renee
www.mudlove.com
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