So very thankful...........

So this appears to be the end of our very long adoption journey!  We of course need some paperwork to finalize, but that is too uneventful to blog about really.  We are so excited to be a family of five!

I will probably stop blogging here.....but I can't without about a thousand thank yous.  We have been in the process on some level for over a year.

1st - I want to thank Andrea from Reece's Rainbow (and everyone who is a part of their team!)  - while we did not end up with a Reece's Rainbow angel as we had anticipated, we are so thankful for their organization and the good things they are doing for children around the world - including advocating and educating right here in America!  Perhaps someday we can adopt (WAYYYYY in the future) an older child through RR - but for now we promise to continue donating and sharing their cause!

Thank you to our friend Yahdira who was kind enough to do all of our adoption notary completely for free! This is an amazing ministry!  If you are in the North County SD area (or willing to travel to her) please email me & I will get you in touch - she offers free notary for families adopting for their adoption paperwork!

Thank you to Suzanne, Kathleen, and Kelly (not in any particular order =)) for putting together a beautiful fundraiser - we know it was just as much for 'Claire' as it was for us, and we know you love our Charlotte just as much as you loved Claire.  We are so thankful that so much of the money raised went to Gregory (still waiting on Reece's Rainbow) - we love that God has multiplied the children who have been adopted - first 'Claire', now our Charlotte, and prayerfully Gregory.....and prayerfully even more - we know that fundraiser touched many hearts and we know it helped so many more than just our family!

Thank you to EVERY person who prayed for and supported us in a million different ways!  We had dozens of friends, family members, and total strangers who blessed us with prayers, words of encouragement, and financial support.  We are so thankful and truly humbled - we know not everyone going through an adoption has this kind of support, and we do not take any of it for granted.

Thank you to the RR families we connected with - but especially Sarah - mommy to be of 'Caroline' waiting in Eastern Europe - we shared a lot of ups and downs.  She was a great comfort in that she understood a lot of what we were going through.  We are so thankful her little girl is still available and their paperwork was submitted - we ironically both now have 'heart babies' and we are thankful for the friendship we have been able to have with them! 

Thank you everyone who prayed for us when we got the terrible news that our 'Claire' was not to be ours.  We know we are exactly where we are supposed to be, but it was (and is) terrible for our family that we will never meet her in this lifetime - we are comforted by the fact that she is loved and HER family got to her before the shut down - we can only pray she has a beautiful life and that we can meet her on the other side of eternity.  We know all the prayers for her protection have not gone unanswered - we are sure she is just a treasure in her family.  While we miss her - we are just so happy she is loved.

Thank you to our other virtual friend Ivonne - who told us about Charlotte needing a family ASAP!

Thank you to Michelle at 'Adoption Answer' who took a leap of faith with us.  She needed a family immediately and she didn't know us at all.  She is a woman of integrity who truly wants what is best for all involved - birth mother, child, and adopting family - I'm sure she was nervous not knowing us beforehand - but we truly believe God put us all together.

Thank you to my parents who took our kids for the longest 'about a week' of all time - it turned out to be 3 1/2 weeks that we took before Charlotte was ready to leave.  Our big kids are cute, but they are a lot of work - Grandma & Grandpa shuffled them around everywhere they needed to go and never complained.

Thank you to our friends who helped them out with playdates and dinners when they needed a little break.

Thank you to the Ronald McDonald House for everything they do - because Charlotte was in NICU and we were more than 50 miles from home we were able to stay with the RMH for $10 a night!  We lost a bit of money when our Ukrainian adoption did not go through.  And while our travel obviously was less expensive - there were lots of new expenses with this new adoption - we are thankful our living expenses the last THREE weeks was next to nothing.  RMH serves so many - some families are here for months at a time - even 3 weeks we are so blessed!  Thank you to the volunteers here, those who brought in dinner and brought gifts for us and our kids.  Amazing, amazing people - making the world a much softer place.

And above all else, we thank God for burdening us for orphans.  It has been a much tougher road than the traditional route to a family - but we feel so richly blessed.  We are so thankful for the daughter we made.  But we are also so thankful for the son and daughter that are so perfectly part of our family but that we simply could not have made on our own - how blessed are we that we were put together with these little ones too.  The beauty of our three kids together speaks volumes of Your profound grace, love, and goodness.  Our prayer is to honor You as they grow.  We pray what You have done with us (despite us occasionally complaining, doubting, and crying along the way) will be a testimony others will be encouraged by.  More than that, we pray we honor You as we raise them - looking at all of them so little we just can't wait to see Your plans for them.  We are just people; regular people, and we just don't know why we were so blessed.

Signing off for now ~

All our love and gratitude ~

Kate, Harry, Josie, Silas, and Charlotte Elise

Welcome Charlotte Elise.....

Our adoption journey took a very sharp turn yesterday....

Please read our story HERE

We'll write more here later, it just seemed silly to write it out twice.

Blessings ~
Kate

I hate to admit it....but Michael Buble has a point.

So I know this is gonna offend a couple readers - but I REALLY do not like Michael Buble.  I just think he is cheesy.  Don't try to change my mind - I'm really set in this opinion.

That being said....

This morning I was listening to my beloved 'Jeff & Jer' on the radio.  I have been listening to this duo literally since middle school and they make me happy.  What does not make me happy - they are on KyXy - a station they used to make fun of, and that I make fun of. Again, no offense to those who listen to KyXy.

Well, I pretty much know how to time the commercials and the music (so I don't have to listen to them) and I flipped the channel at 'last lame song before Jeff & Jer should be back' time.

Wouldn't you know it - Michael McCheesy comes on - ugh!  Well, I already knew the other station I was flipping between was on a commercial and I knew Jeff and Jer would be back at the end of McCheesy's lameness, so I actually kept the song on.

So, I guess I am in that stage of our issue where every song on the radio is about our situation.

Here's a YouTube video of 'Just Haven't Met You Yet'  with lyrics - and as much as I hate to say it  - Michael Buble made me feel better today. 

Just goes to show you - God can use all kinds of tools ;)

We've been knocked down a couple times, closed doors, unopened doors, doors that looked one way & ended up being another - UGH!  We are confused, but we know 'it'll all work out.'

I know that our confusion is shared by some other RR families or just other adoptive families, maybe this makes you feel better too.

prayer for 'Claire's' country....

Hi all ~

Just a quick update.  Apparently there is a vote to happen this upcoming week (or possibly the week after - not always 'on time' =)) in Claire's country that could potentially close Intercountry adoption at this time.

There is no real reason to stop them, there have been no complaints or concerns, so we don't think there is a big need to panic.

However, we do feel since this vote is coming up it is important to pray that it favors children waiting to come home to families and that her country continues to allow Intercountry adoption.

We are still moving along as planned, we hope you will keep us, 'Claire', and all waiting children in her country in your prayers - we will update!

Blessings
Kate

Timing is everything! A few prayer requests...

Hello all!

We are getting paperwork together and every day everything seems more real!

We have doctor & live scan (background check) appointments scheduled for the 2nd week in December and then will start our home visits of our homestudy.

The very earliest we will be able to submit our dossier is February.  We pray this is the case & we ask you to pray that her country will accept our dossier at the earliest possible date.  With the possibility of that submission date being moved back & paperwork only being valid for 6 months we are really hoping that delaying our Dr. appts & LiveScan until December will be enough time. 
we will still of course be able to adopt her - we would just need to update info if paperwork is submitted more than 6 mo after completion - basically we are hoping to avoid having to do more Dr visits (not covered by insurance), notary, and livescan fees - to do this over will EASILY cost another $1000 - so we are just really hoping for timing to be in our favor!

We cannot delay it any further or we risk not having the homestudy complete before February. 

We want to ask people to pray that everything is 'best case scenario' - meaning things go through as quickly as possible. 

We pray that she is well taken care of, that her needs both physically and emotionally are met.

We pray that her little heart & mind are protected - there is so much stigma associated with adoption and specifically orphans from different countries - we have been blessed that our son bonded & fell into our family so perfectly, we have the same hopes for this little girl.  We ask you to pray for her!

We have raised all our upfront fees needed for our homestudy & the small commitment fee (for Reeces Rainbow) before even commiting to her.  Any funds in her account we will be able to use for travel expenses - flights, in country fees, her passport, food, taxis, buses, hotel/apt, etc.  We will not need these fees until sometime after Februrary - but if you are looking for a 2010 Tax Deduction - please know any donations made go 100% to us & are 100% tax deductible.  Again - we do not 'need' it now, but anything donated will be saved until we travel & as we see that $$ rise in her account it does bless us! 

Here is her page again http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsorhamernikmarissa

First and foremost we simply ask for your prayers for her & timing & safe travels for us when we do go.

Kate

Answers to some questions.....

1. What is her name?

Her legal name is protected -we know it, we will share it when she is legally ours.  She is called 'Marissa' on Reece's Rainbow - because they are posted on an international photolisting they need to be protected - one way they protect them is by giving them an alias.  We plan on naming her Claire and keeping her legal name as her middle name. (or maybe keeping her legal name and making Claire the middle....there is some debate.)

2.  Where is she?

Also protected.  We know it, we will share after our dossier is accepted.  She is in Eastern Europe.

3.  How old is she?

She will be two this month! (November)

4.  When will she be home?

Short answer - not sure - as early as late Spring 2011 (we ask you to pray this is the case) - it is reasonable to expect her to be home in less than a year.

5. Is it 'for sure'

Nobody outside of her country can adopt her at this point.  She is only listed internationally on RR & she is committed to us.  She has some disabilities that make her EXTREMELY unlikely to be considered by a family in her country. We can submit official paperwork in early 2011 and then she will effectively be ours officially.  It's complicated - that is the short version. This timing is actually awesome because we will need a few months to finish up paperwork anyway. 

6. What is her disability?

She has SH/FM - Split Hand Split Foot Malformation - http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=13614 - basically she doesn't have all her fingers and toes.  Literally - that is it.  There are possible surgeries that can help her.  There is no way to know without X-rays how much (if anything can be done) - we are totally ok if there is nothing that can be done, we love her already - but we hope we can help her be as 'normal' as possible.  She is cognitively normal, no FAS documentation, and no other medical issue other than her SH/FM

7. Can she walk?

Yes.


We'll answer more questions later! I just thought I should start with the one's we have been hearing most often.

Please pray that our paperwork goes through quickly!
Please pray she knows how much she is loved!