Praise Report!

         Yesterday came and went with no CARA approval due to offices being closed. We did find out that my birthday is a national holiday in India (this year at least the date moves similar to Easter). The holiday that happened was Eld al-Adha "The Feast of Sacrifice" during which Muslims pay respect to Ibrahim "Abraham" and his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac in the view of Christians, however in Islam Ishmael is believed to be the son that was spared by God. They kill a cow or a ram and eat 1/3 of the meat, 1/3 of the meat goes to neighbors, and 1/3 to the poor.

Praise Report:    

      We shared how we had a friend who had offered a matching grant up to $500. We have been so blessed to have reached this $500 and got 100% of the matching. That is an other $1,000 in our adoption account. Praise to God above!! We have been blessed with so many people coming along side us in prayer and monetary support for this sweet little man that we pray to be matched with. Adoption is hard, expensive, and time consuming. We could not do this with out our tribe! 

 Prayer Requests:

•  Current estimated need to completing adoption is $20,747. 
• CARA approval
• To be matched with our sweet boy
• "Isaiah's" health and wellness while in the orphanage

We have fallen in love.

        So, this past week we received a file for  a little boy who is 3 years old. He has some delays and medical needs, but the moment I was reading his information I know I needed to be this little man's momma.

         I am not the love at first sight kinda gal. I really am more the over think, stress, and then call 3 friends and have them analyze my every thought kinda gal. However this was something that seemed so right from the start. To remain true to who I am I did need to call my gals and have them help me think it through. Then one text message to a friend who has a child with a similar health concern. She was so kind and helpful in sharing what her family deals with and what the projected needs may be. That sealed the deal. We are all smitten. I wish I could share his picture on here for you all to see his sweet face but I cannot until we are farther along, but rest assured he has the sweetest little face and soon enough you will all be so tired of seeing our posts about our SON!!

       There is one problem.... a big one...... we are have to wait till we become CARA approved before we can ask to make this little guy ours forever. CARA is the Indian agency that states we are able to adopt from India. They are approving us to be Potential Adoptive Parents (PAP's). This agency has had major delays due to many things outside of their control and now they are swamped with paperwork. They have prioritized cases that are closest to completion (Rational me understands this, momma who is at the start of process is crying inside as I type this. ) We should be coming close to the top of the list ti be approved.

      My birthday is Wednesday and all I want is to have CARA say we are approved and we can be matched with our little man. Brandon's birthday is coming in a week or so also and I claiming this is what he wants also, lol.

    God has been so good to us in the process, sometimes we didn't see His grace until the storm had pasted ( cough......lightening hitting house.....cough). We know our family, church family, and friends are our prayer partners in this process and for that we are eternally grateful. So many of you all have rallied behind us in hard times, and partnered with us in prayer. #tribegoals


   While We Wait: 
The big girls started school. Maddison is in 4th grade and moved into middle school. I still have not accepted this completely yet. Jacquelyn is now in 1st grade. They have loved it, minus getting up early.

We recently wrapped up Puxico Homecoming. For my friends who have never experienced this it is a fair in the small town of Puxico,MO where the whole town is centered around coming back to town and visiting friends. There are rides, carnival games, square dancing, class reunions, goat burgers, amazing fair food. It is our girls favorite time of year. Yes they openly admit they like it more than Christmas presents.

Working hard at waiting.

          It is August, this summer has flown by. In our last post we shared that we finally completed our home study! Praise the Lord! With completing our home study we were able to move to the next step in the process. We were officially accepted into the India program with WACAP, which has a very reputable India program. This seemed like a dream. We were finally in the process officially. So we signed our contracts with them and paid the first agency fee. (that one stung the old bank account for sure.)  We then completed our documents needed to get registered with the Central Adoption Resource Authority, CARA. This is a major approval where India states you are eligible to adopt from their country. The normal timeline for CARA approval ranges from 4-6 weeks, however there have been major transitions in CARA and now the timelines have increased. We were registered for CARA on June 13th and now we wait every day to receive notification that we have been approved.  
After the approval we can begin looking at referral files for children, and then when we find the boy God designed our family for we will begin pursuing our son to bring him home. Here is a wonderful infographic one of my fellow adoptive mammas shared. It is the most gratifying feeling, being able to mark off boxes in this chart. 

We've been asked many questions along the way, especially how long till you get to go to bring him home? In short we have no idea. We pray it will be soon. We also know that many amazing prayer warriors are along side us, we know God calls us to help the orphan and for now that is what we rest in. 

An other question we receive quit frequently is the cost of our adoption. We have had some added expenses with having to complete several parts of our home study a second time due to the lightening damage to our home, and the number required to bring each kiddo home is different. Currently, to complete all foreseeable expenses, we need about $22,000. We have been applying for grants, selling assets and saving like crazy to meet this goal. 
This number is the line that many Christians pull out when adoption is raised. The amount needed to bring these kiddos home often seems unattainable. We totally understand. I have cried and worried over this number more times that I'd like to admit in this process. With every step of progress we make there are fees and its scary. Stepping out in faith is scary at times and when we started this process we thought we would be able to cover all expenses. But God has humbled us to show his glory through this process. I share this to encourage others by showing God provides and we will trust him to provide while serving him through the wait. 


On one night, while crying out in prayer for the next phase of funding needed once we are matched, a beautiful friend text randomly and offered a generous match fund for us. I could not believe this. She could not have known the timing of her text to me was an answer to prayer. This is just one example of how blessed we are to be surrounded by brothers and sister in Christ who understand the power of the Gospel and been such a help and encouragement in our journey.  

For our ongoing fundraising efforts, we currently have a GoFundme established for anyone who would be willing to pair with us in fundraising to bring Isaiah home, and are in the planning stages of several fundraisers that we will be holding over the next several months.  We are so grateful for all of you who have stood behind us through this journey so far.  We still have a long way to go, but we wouldn't be near as far as we are if it weren't for your help and support.  We ask that you please continue to pray for us, that God will be glorified through this process and others will be encouraged to reflect the Gospel through adoption.