Change 4 Rwanda

We have saved, we have worked extra jobs, we have received donations and we are almost there. We are close to our total money goal for bringing Jo-jo home with us forever! We are grateful and oh so thankful for you and your enthusiasm as we expand our family.

I've been trying to think of a creative way to raise funds for the last costs of our adoption. The costs that kind of sneaks up on ya: shots that insurance doesn't cover, int'l medical doctor to read our referral review, in-country costs, etc... etc.....

Josh and I are going to run the Keizer Iris Festival Half-Marathon on May 22nd. Would you be willing to sponsor us in this run?

Change 4 Rwanda is our jar campaign to bring about awareness of orphans in Rwanda and bring our Jo-jo home to us! We're asking you to step it up and collect change in a jar from now until race day, May 22nd. We have a decorated jar for you to collect any amount of change that you can.... be creative here - change from your pockets, change from can/bottle returns, change from a jar or cup you already have, change from the sofa???, change from co-workers or friends, the possibilities are endless....

Who wants a jar? :)

Melia is holding "Jo-jo's giraffe" and Kylie is holding a jar for our fundraiser.

My mom bought this stuffed animal for Jo-jo and we routinely hug and kiss it. I actually sleep with it every night. Someday, it will be in the arms of my son.

Side Story: I heard about this ministry called Africa New Life Ministries. This is an organization that helps the people of Rwanda through teaching of the Gospel and acts of compassion. They have various ministries, one of which, is for the street kids of Kigali, Rwanda. (Our orphanage is in this city). There are approx. 7,000 street kids in Kigali. No one watching out for them. No mom or dad to hug and kiss and keep them out of trouble. ANLM has a program where these kids can come twice a week to their property and be feed, wash clothes, and enjoy a little peace in their hard life. After watching this video an idea popped into my head.

Why not help raise money for this program? Let's raise awareness and help do something for these kids! 10% of whatever we raise will go directly to this program!

Street Children Project from Africa New Life Ministries on Vimeo.

The kicker.....my goal is to stay at the guest house on the property of ANLM and we will video/take pictures of our time there (and the kids) so you can see exactly where a portion of your money went.

Besides playing a pivotal role in the life of my son, you will be used by God to touch the lives of hundreds of kids who will know the love of Jesus. I am so excited about this! Would you be willing to take a jar?

Follow my blog as we train for the run of a lifetime...first 13.2 miles in Keizer, then our journey to Rwanda.

Here we go... Blessings!

patience is a virtue

My heart is aching today. BADLY.

The additional documents that we needed to complete are currently in Washington DC where they will be authenticated with the Rwandan embassy before heading over to Rwanda. I was feeling so encouraged last week. I still am encouraged. I feel like we are finally getting somewhere and drawing closer to our little sweet baby boy. Not hearing any new news for a week is fine. Adoption tests even the most patient person and I do not consider myself patient in any way. Patience has turned into a serious discipline for me. One that I have to routinely practice giving to God.

The ache is back today in a powerful way. Drawing closer gives you the sweet thought of having your child in your arms. Loving him and kissing him and playing with him and never letting go of him. I dislike very much being on the verge of tears at any given moment. Right here and right now I am (again) giving my heart to my God who graciously allows me to draw close to Him. It is all for His glory.

My heart is stirring for the orphans of Rwanda. I am working on an idea that I will blog about in my next post. I am going to call on all of you to help defend the cause of the orphan. (I'll give you a hint..... something that has to do with the "change for Rwanda" tag on the right hand side of this blog.)

Are you ready?

Blessings!

all my heart

I am extremely filled with joy at this moment. My heart is full. I am so thankful for each and every one of you who has stood with us on this journey. I've never been so thankful for our friends and family. You have supported us spiritually through prayer, giving of your time, giving of your things (garage sales), giving financially, giving emotionally to listen and respond. As someone who does NOT like to ask for help or appear to vulnerable to many, you have lived and breathed what it means to be apart of the body of Christ.

I am so profoundly moved. It makes me want to be a better person. It makes me want to love others more and help others in a way like I have never felt before. You have helped me when I can't help myself. You have encouraged when days are dark. You have cheered beside me on the mountaintop.

I am different then when I started this chapter a year ago. I am more patient. I am more willing to embrace and completely surrender. I am more aware of my need for my Savior. You have had an influence in shaping me. You have been an example of what it means to love unconditionally. You have been an extension of Jesus. I will live bigger and better because of you.

You are powerful. You are real. I am grateful to God for allowing me the privilege to walk life with you.

Thank you with all my heart.

love month

I am loving February. We got an email today from the peeps in RWANDA! They are analyzing OUR dossier and they need a few more documents. Okay. We don't have the non-objection yet to adopt from Rwanda. BUT our dossier is sitting in front of their eyes! Wow. 9 months of really no word and viola, we hear something. February 24th was a good day.

We busted our butts today and got all the necessary paperwork up to our agency. I'm talking printed out, copied, notarized, state certified, and driven up one hour north to our agency's office. Can I get an "Amen" for a productive day! (A huge thank-you to my mom for watching the girlies so some serious movin' could happen.)

These documents should be off to Rwanda very shortly and then....and then....hopefully a quick response of non-objection.

With God ALL things are possible!

blessings.

little by little

Just a quick update to let you all in on a bit of news. Our number is getting closer!

We are #73 and read a blog of a family who is #55 and their dossier is currently being reviewed for a non-objection letter. We are getting closer. I hold on to this hope that we are out of the longest of the waiting...hearing nothing....growing impatient....learning to daily give it all to God.....sad....long days.....kinda part. Guess I shouldn't be over the daily surrender thing. :)

Feel like I've been tied up and I've been fighting with all my strength to get out of the ropes that entangle me and be free. At last, when I realize I can not free myself, I give way to pure exhaustion and lay there very still. I'm open and I'm listening.... sweet surrender.

Thanks for your prayers and continued support. Keep praying.

ONE YEAR!

One year ago today we were sitting in the office of our adoption agency making the call of adding to our family official..... we have a child in Rwanda. We went through two notebooks of details on what we needed to do to put together our home study documents and our dossier documents. In addition to the classes we needed to take on line and a thick workbook that needed to be completed. Wow - has it only been a year since that all happened? In many ways it feels like it was three years ago. I was so overwhelmed and excited. I remember looking at Josh when we got in the car with our binders and said to him, "what do we do first?" My mind was on overload.

We got to work!

Fingerprints, passports, required documents retrieved (i.e. criminal checks both state and county, employment verifications, guardianship statements, copies of birth & marriage certificates, etc....), FBI checks, Adoption parent education classes, medical appts., interviews (4 total) by social worker, country specific information, fundraisers, etc....

Fast forward to May 31st when our completed dossier was registered in Rwanda. Now we wait. We quickly realized that the waiting game was going to be tougher and WAY longer than we had thought.

The end of this month marks 8 months of waiting. I'd love to say that I've waited well. Reality says this has been one tough year. It's true though, in the hardest times, that is the best time of growth. I have grown deeper in my walk with the Lord. I hope that I am a better person and have a deeper sense of strength and character than I did a year ago. My aim is to glorify my God. I have learned a lot about the Sovereignty of God. I'm learning to surrender to His will and timing. That can mean some pretty "ugly" days for a stubborn, control freak like myself.

Thank you for your kind words and your prayers. Your support matters and affects us deeply.

Enough of all this heavy stuff, I will leave you with a funny but oh so true story.

The other night Josh was walking down the hallway to check on the girls in their room before he and I called it a night. I was in our bedroom and I heard him make a funny little noise. I asked if everything was alright and he said he wasn't sure. What??? What is going on? I stood in the doorway of our room in our L-shaped hallway. Josh said I think a mouse just ran past me into the playroom. Where did a mouse come from? There have been no "signs" of a mouse? Really, are you sure?

To say that rodents scare me would be a grossly exaggerated understatement. I loathe rodents! I hate them. They turn my stomach and I squeal like a little girl if I see one. Call me a baby, I don't care. Yuck! Can't stand them. Soooo... now I am kinda freaking out. Josh turns on the lights and is checking the room and YEP, we have a mouse that is now behind the dresser. What do we do???? I could run a half-marathon at this point with all the adrenaline pulsing through my body. I go and put my boots on. Josh leaves wimpy me there on post and goes to the garage to retrieve his big work gloves and a broom. Say your prayers you nasty rodent.

Josh closes the door and barricades himself in the room. He had to cover up the little space underneath the doorway. No pesky mouse was leaving that room alive. I'm still standing in the doorway of our bedroom and the playroom is directly in front of me and the end of the hallway. All is quiet and then "Whack, whack, whack" Josh is swinging that broom and I am jumping up and down. Get that sucker. He needs to die for invading our territory. :)

Josh starts moving the stuff he had placed in front of the door so I think yes, the mouse is dead. Hooray. All of the sudden....... that darn mouse comes flying out from under the door running for his life. STRAIGHT AT ME! I figured this little guy was a goner so to have him shoot out from under that door took me by total surprise. This is the part where I so wished I had grabbed the video camera. I would have won the grand prize on America's Funniest Videos because I came unglued. No explanation will do it justice. I yelped, turned, and jumped for our bed. Of course I didn't try to stand my ground and stop this mouse from running through our house. I didn't even stand there long enough to see where it went. Down the hall? In another room? Towards the front living room? Guess what....we have NOT found the mouse! To this day there are no "signs" of our furry pest and no traps have been touched. I'd like to think that he ran in and ran back out to where ever he came from and is long gone.

sidenote: Josh did hit the tar out of that mouse. It "played" dead and then when he moved the stuff from the door it jumped up and ran. Can you believe it!

The mouse ran out and the chicken remains...ME!

blessings.

somewhere

We heard news a couple of days ago from our case worker that some non-objection letters have gone out!!!!!!!! This is a feat in itself to know that the government is moving ahead and issuing these approvals. To have no new news for months and then hear things are moving is such a wonderful gift. Word on the streets is that they are somewhere in the 30's and we are number 73. Not too far off. We don't know exactly how fast they are moving....

I'm now taking money donations to send a case of red bull to the dossier workers at the rwandan government. Who's with me? Merry Christmas....drink up people. :) Okay, just kidding. But the thought has crossed my mind.

Cool story.....I heard about kids being sponsored in Rwanda on the radio through an organization called, Africa New Life Ministry. Of course my ears perked up at the mention of RWANDA and so I googled this organization. The more I have found out about their mission and love for the kids of my boy's home land, the more I want to go there. I've decided that I got to check this place out when we go to Kigali. They have a variety of service buildings on their compound including a school, orphanages, a dream center where they feed kids, etc... How cool is that? I want to see it. They also have a guest home for people to go over and serve. Definitely an option for our family in the future. Anyway, Africa New Life Ministry's US office is in Portland, OR. So close to us. That's cool.

I tell my jogging buddy Melissa about this ministry and my growing desire to experience this place. Melissa just starting going to a church in Portland. She goes to a small group type of gathering at a house in Portland. Guess who owns the house and is hosting this small group gathering....(drum roll please)......the Co-Founder's of Africa New Life Ministry. (Side note: Melissa is telling me this good news on a jog and this is the part where I jumped for joy and wasn't huffing and puffing trying to breath like I usually am. ) The plan is to meet this wonderful lady in January who has been to Rwanda many times and also has an adopted son from there. I'll keep ya posted. Can't wait to hear her heart and passion for this country.

Check Africa New Life Ministries out! They have some short videos on Rwanda and what they do over there. Completely impressive! Aren't people amazing. I'm like, well what should we have for dinner? And there's people out there that are literally saving people's lives. I'm exaggerating here but you get my point. We can all do something to help someone else out. It's humbling and challenging and inspiring. There are also many ways to support orphans (other than adoption) associated through this ministry. So, if you're looking for a way to get involved - do it! You won't be sorry.