Our family begins to take shape!

Two small wallet sized photo's are sitting on my desk... framed and in a place where I can see them mutiple times a day... the faces of our daughters.... YES.... our two little girls....waiting for us in Haiti.

About 2 weeks ago, we accepted the referral from Haiti of two little 4 year old girls...(non-related)... Sheldine turned four in July and Nephtalie turns four next week. I can not tell you the emotions that go along with this step in our journey. We love them so much, and miss them terribly... yet we have not met them face to face. We do not know if they have been told about us yet... we do not know when we'll be flying to Haiti to meet them. What we do know is that God is in control and we are focusing on trusting Him more and more every day.

Upon acceptance of our referral we again drained our adoption fund. It is never-wracking and amazing all at the same time that for each step of the way, we have had exactly what we needed... when we needed it!

Our next payments are for some in-counrty fee's- the passports for the girls- at least two trips to Haiti and we now pay their living expenses every three months in the amount of $300 a month per child. We know that God is faithful!

I have added a paypal "donate" button to our blog.... we would not have been able to get this far without the abundant generosity of our friends, family, communtity and neighbors... we give God all the glory and praise for how this has unfolded before our eyes! We have much funds yet to raise and it's hard to ask for help- and thank you for your love and support. This has been a journey that far exceeds what we first expected... a journey that far exceeds just involving Darren and myself... a journey that is emotionally draining- physically exhausting... and simply amazing...

stay tuned our faithful blog followers..... we can't wait to share more with you....

New Journey

As we move forward on this adoption journey... I've been praying about and seeking a part time job that would allow me to earn some extra money, but that would be a good fit for our life. We still have much money to raise and a second job will allow me to put my 'paycheck' directly into our adoption account.

As always, God is faithful to provide a way.

A couple of months ago, I was introduced to a company that I have never heard of before. Thirty-One gifts. This is a faith based company that was established in 2003. The name comes directly from the Proverbs 31 woman. They are an up and coming company that offer great & stylish products at very reasonable prices. After much prayer, discussion and wondering... I decided to take a leap of faith and signed up to be a consultant. I have never done anything like this before and I'm excited at the possibilities and opportunities that will be coming my way. This company is just what I was looking for!

I will be holding my "launch party" in the form of an open house on August 19th at 6pm. Hostess is Tania Boardman! (Thanks Sister!) I have created an event-- please RSVP and come check out the wonderful products!

God Bless
Shelly

The Wait.....

We finally sent our paperwork (Dossier) the end of June... It was so hard to actually hand our Dossier to the FedEx lady... we worked so long and hard on each and every document... there was a small sense of anxiety in handing it to another human being to care for it... even if it was to just ship it to Austin, Tx.

Each document is now going through the certification/authentication & translation step. We can expect a phone call from CAN's 1-3 months from now, telling us that a referral is being sent to us (via email). This referral is the photo and information/history sheet on the children that Haiti has paired us up with... It goes without saying that we are SUPER excited and can't wait to get that phone call.

The thought of bringing our children home and starting our lives with our forever family is far beyond any words we can use. We are watching.... waiting... praying... and loving them already!

Dossier wrapping up

Trip to Portland last week to have our biometric fingerprints done and our Psych Eval done... results... we are not criminals... and we have been deemed "psychologically sound"!!! AWESOME!!!

We have just a few more documents to get completed/turned in and notarized... then we can mail our huge box of documents - fancy title--Dossier... into our agency!!!

Next step.... wait for the referral!

Papers, Papers and more Papers

We are still in the midst of creating our Dossier that we will send to Children of All Nations at the end of June... my gosh... who knew you could even collect this many pieces of paper!!! We are thrilled to finally have our FBI Biometric fingerprints appointment in Portland -- AND to finally have found someone to do our Psych Eval! YES... We have to have a psych eval !!!! A bit nervous about that... but this doctor comes highly recommended by the social worker that did our home study...so that brings a bit of relief. Walking into the Immigration building in South Portland next thursday will be so exciting... and nerve-wracking too. This "dream" is slowly but surely becoming our reality... our child is out there waiting!

Abundant Blessings!

The Fund-Raiser was amazing... a time of fellowship and community... family, food and laughter!! We had a goal in mind for this event. Our next payment due the end of June is $4700.00. We exceeded that and now have a start on saving for the next payment. We again are in awe of God's hand moving in this journey. More and more we know without a doubt, that being parents of a child from Haiti is God's plan for us. Thank you to all those that donated auction items, time, food and to those that came out to support us... we are more than blessed....

Fund-Raising

The cost of adoption is overwhelming.. expensive... and seems to be out of our reach... just when we think it can't happen and begin to doubt or fear that the funds just won't come through... God reminds us how big He is, how good He is and just how faithful He is......

Both of our families have been working so hard and steadfast on our upcoming Fund-Raising Dinner and Silent Auction that is scheduled on 4/15/11. The support and generosity from our friends, families and the community is simply amazing. We can't wait for Friday night and have the chance to share our story and give God all the glory! He is so faithful and meets ALL our needs!