Category: Foster Care

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One Step Closer!

Yesterday we got some adoption news!  We hadn’t heard any news in months.  I was starting to imagine our paperwork was actually lost in the abyss of the state offices.  We got word that we have an Adoption Coordinator assigned to our case now.  I have no idea what an Adoption Coordinator does, but hey, it’s more news than I had last week…so I’ll take it!  Supposedly once they process those forms everything moves really quickly.  I really really hope so!
Here’s a sneak peek of the cuteness.  He loves all things chicken.  The Little Red Hen, the real hens in our backyard, toy chickens, and yes- chicken as food. 🙂
 He decided his toys needed to take a swim…
We also have good news about our April trip!  We were finally able to make contact with a couple that we most wanted to meet with in Ukraine.  This is the couple whose work initially drew us to want to save up all our pennies to fly across the world.  From what I know about them it seems they are doing exactly the type of work that we are passionate about.  Even if we couldn’t make contact with them we were still making plans to go and meet with others, and we were happy about that, but the blessing of being able to meet with these specific people just about triples our excitement about this trip.  WAHOOOOOOO!!
I’m slowly and steadily making a bit of progress on language learning.  OH MY WORD.  Why can’t they speak Spanish where we’re going????  My brain feels a bit foggy with doing Spanish studies with the kids in the morning for their class, and then doing my language study in the afternoon…I just know when we get there I’m going to be thinking in Spanish…or Albanian.  Ha!  My in-laws live in Kosova, so they speak Albanian there.  It’s not like I’m fabulous at Albanian (not even semi-fab), but you know how international travel goes,  your brain reverts to the last non-English language you learned.  But, it’s not like we have a translator meeting us at the airport, so I better get my rear in gear!!  I’ve been pretty faithful in my studies since the new year started, so Lord, please bless my efforts…HELP!!!!
On a less scary note, here’s some cuteness to sum up January.
Ez and Mommy had a date night
Our most awesome bunny was accidentally locked outside for the night.  Oh the drama!!
We found him the next day, alive and well.  Now that was a miracle!
Mommy put the kids to work.
Ezra took this picture of Havalah.  She’s going to love this one when she’s older!!

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Come on 2012!

I think it’s pretty safe to say 2011 has been one of the best years of my life. I can’t believe it’s almost over!!  It’s amazing to look back and remember what life was like just one year ago and how much has changed since then.
Last year, at the beginning of 2011 we were in mourning. We had just been told that our 7-month-old baby boy we had fostered since day 1 would not be able to become our son.  The state was going to be doing open recruitment to choose a family for him, but because of some policies that had just been changed, we would not be eligible to apply to be his family.  He knew no one but us, and hadn’t seen his birth parents since leaving the hospital at 2 days old. We were his parents.  We were being told a big fat NO.
BUT…..
Praise the Lord we have a rockin’ case worker and our boy has an amazing lawyer who stood up and shouted that this was not right.  They fought for our boy and for our family.  Now, at the beginning of 2012 we are simply waiting on some final paperwork to be processed and he will be ours.  He will officially and legally be our son.  Oh, how I long for that day.  They tell us it will be soon!!!  God truly moved mountains to give us our son.  (Soon we can show pictures of him too! He’s quite the cutie)  🙂
At the beginning of 2011, we were halfway into our first year as a homeschooling family.  We were questioning if we were doing the right thing, we were insecure, we were struggling with math.  🙂  Now, at the beginning of 2012, we are comfy in our homeschooling shoes.  That’s definitely not to say I think we’ve got it figured out or that I’m an old pro now, but I can say we know we are doing the right thing for our family and we are thankful for that security.  Our days are full- full of diapers, interruptions, spilled milk (really!), meltdowns, overflowing laundry baskets, and potty-training disasters.
BUT…
They are also full of giggles and snuggles on the couch with the latest read-aloud we just can’t put down.  They are full of math breakthroughs, library books, ballet in the living room, and sweet Bible times with our single candle lit on the kitchen table.  I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  I thank God for the blessing it has been to our family.
At the beginning of 2011, I was a passive observer in my life with Christ.  I had become cynical and bored with my faith.  Oh, I have never stopped loving Jesus.  He and I had some sweet moments together, but they were few and far between- and I know the fault in that lies completely with me.  I had given up on dreams and passions that He had given me and created me for.  I was faithful in my actions, as far as serving the Body, yet my heart was far away.
BUT…
My God pursued me with reckless abandon.  He chased me down and He would not let me go.  He spoke to me in a small whisper at first.  That whisper grabbed my attention.  I picture Jesus like one of my kids who is so stinkin’ excited to show me something new, something they have created.  “Come here!  Look over here!  Look what I’m doing!!!!”  Yep, once Jesus had my attention He took me by the hand and said “Look!  I’m doing a new thing, and guess what?  You get to be a part of it!!  Follow me.”  Jed and I never would have thought last year at this time we’d be trying to learn a new language in preparation for a trip to a country in Eastern Europe.  I never even really thought about that country and we had NO idea about all the precious lives lying in wait there.  There was a whole community of people fighting for those precious lives and we had no clue about any of it!
I’m telling you what, Jesus changed my life in 2011 and I will never ever be the same.  My Jed has been amazing through it all.  He led our family and sought the Lord when I was uninterested.  He prayed for me and he loved me and I can never thank him enough for leading our family so faithfully.  Now God is calling Jed and I and our family to a great adventure.  Something big is about to happen.  YEEEEEEEHAW!!!!!
In 2011 God gave us our son.  He gave us vision.  He renewed our passion.  He changed our lives.  He set us on a course and we can’t wait to see where it leads.
Come on 2012! 

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I Love November

November is National Adoption Month and Orphan Awareness Month.  Jed and I have been hard at work preparing a presentation for our church.  I am so stinkin’ excited to share with our body what we are most passionate about.  For our presentation we’ve been filming people from our church who have either been adopted, adopted a child themselves, fostered children, or somehow are actively doing orphan care.  It has been awesome.

I think sometimes when we passionate-about-orphans people get to really thinking about all the fatherless out there, all the babies without mamas, all the boys without daddies, it can get extremely overwhelming.  God, why aren’t people doing more?  Don’t they even care?  I sometimes feel alone in my passion.  I think about the fatherless every single day.  I pray for the orphaned ones every single day.  I look into the face of my baby and wonder what his life would have been like had he been born in a different country.  Would he have been abandoned?  Would he be languishing in an orphanage with no one to hold him when he cries?  Most likely.  It’s too much.

Then I lift my head up and I look around.  I start thinking of ones I know who I can get on film from our church.  I think of name after name of those who have answered the cry.  

Phil and Kathy- fostered over 30 teenage girls and adopted their daughter through foster care.
Tim and Rosa- running an orphanage in Asia for disabled children.
Debbi- adopted as a child and so thankful to share how she was rescued by her parents.
Sam and Angie- some of our very best friends who are in Bulgaria RIGHT NOW! visiting with their children they are adopting.

Yes, the need is great.
Yes, many ignore the need.
Yes, the church needs to rise up.

But,
Many are answering the cries.
Many are not ignoring the need.
Many are rising up.

I know God is on the move and He WILL NOT forget His children.
And I am encouraged.

 I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.  John 14:18

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One Step Closer

Today I had my physical for our foster care adoption of Baby S.  That was the last bit that we had to do and now his file can go to Central Office for processing!  Woohoo!

My baby is growing and changing every day.  He was born addicted to drugs, but today he is a smiling, crawling, pointing, babbling, one year old who lights up our lives.  I don’t know if we will foster again, but I do know that he was our greatest reward for fostering.  We have had a lot of hard times in our last four years involved in foster care.  It has been one of the hardest and best things we have ever done.  Baby S is our prize 🙂  We are blessed beyond words.

On an “international note”, we had some doubts this past month, but have decided to continue with our international adoption homestudy.  We took some time to pray, wait on God, grieve, and listen.  God has not told us to stop, so we will continue to move.  The country we feel He is calling us to is closing adoptions for the next three months, so in the meantime we’ll do whatever we can do on our end to get ready for their re-open.  Bring on the paperwork!  It has been such a huge blessing to see the little one we originally committed to meeting his mommy and daddy for the first time.  I won’t lie, at first it made me cry.  I had so hoped to be his mommy and to have that meeting.  I dreamed of it.  But, helloooooo????  This is so not about me!!! Ha!  God is amazing.  He knew this precious one needed out of his country before the adoption closure.  As always, His ways are so much higher than our ways.  I’m thankful for that.

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Beginnings

Beginning…beginning of what?  That’s a good question.  The beginning of this blog, yes, but I had hoped today I would be starting this blog out with talking about the beginning of our adoption journey to kiddo #5.  Although things won’t look how I thought they would, I guess technically this is still about the beginning of our adoption journey.  Nice rambling start eh?  🙂

I’ll back up.  Who are we?
I’m Kim:  wife, Mommy, foster mom, home-school teacher, friend, pediatric nurse, coffee snob, lover of all things missions/orphans/helpless/least of these.  I’m passionate about the plight of the orphan, both here, and abroad.  My husband tells me my passion is “to mother the world”.  He may not be that far off!
Then there’s Jed: husband, Daddy, foster dad, friend, social worker, guitar-playin worshippin’ Jesus Freak.  He is my best friend and an amazing person.  He is selfless and totally committed to pursuing God’s plans and purposes.
Adelina: our oldest daughter, our amazing firstborn.  She loves to read and read and read.  She is mildly obsessed with Ancient Egypt.  Ha!  Addie is kind, loves and lives life to the fullest with a perpetual smile on her face.
Ezra: our first son, our “helper”.  Ezra loves to color, cuddle mommy, and jump on the trampoline.  He adores his older sister (though he would never admit that to anyone).  He is loving and tender, always the one to rush to kiss the babies.
Havalah:  our joy.  The name Havalah means “life”, and she is perfectly suited for her name.  Havalah is a bubbly ball of sweetness that you just can’t help but squeeze.  She knows what she wants and will let you know it!  She is our Polly Pocket and Strawberry Shortcake girl.
Baby “S”:  our unexpected miracle.  S is our foster baby boy that we have had since his birth.  We didn’t expect to keep him when we took him in, but now we can’t imagine our lives without him.  He will be one year old on Saturday and what a celebration that will be!  I’ll share another time the miracle that is our baby.  We are in the process of adopting him through our state.  He is happy, beautiful, and absolutely adored.

We created this blog because we recently committed to a little boy through Reeces Rainbow.  They suggest you start a blog for your adoption journey.  I actually found out about Reeces Rainbow through another blog.  I read on that blog about the plight of special needs orphans and was compelled to act.  After much prayer we knew God was calling us to pursue a certain boy.  I dreamed about him, prayed for him, God spoke, words were given, Scriptures were given, money was given!  It was very very clear to us that God was saying “Move!”  So we moved.  We sent in our committment papers and then today we found out that another family who was in country already had decided to adopt our boy.  It was a rare occurence and everyone involved was surprised at the turn of events.  We were shocked!  What do you do when you know beyond a shadow of doubt what God told you to do, but then things change so radically?  What do we make of it?  It’s confusing and heartbreaking.  When we committed to that boy I felt the feelings you feel when you find out your pregnant, and now I’m not sure what to feel since my “baby” is no longer mine.  I know legally he never was mine, but in my heart he was.  🙂

So, now we wait on the Lord.  He told us to move, so we will continue to move forward.  We will continue our home study paperwork and see where He leads.  I decided to start the blog anyhow, because even though the course of our journey has changed, I know it has not ended.  It is still the story of our adoptions of #4 and #5.  Your guess is as good as mine on how things will turn out!  God knows though, may His kingdom come and His will be done.  So be it!

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