pictures of recent activity

This is Doro Wat, an Ethiopian dish Shelley cooked. It was part of an assignment in our workbook. It was really good.




This was when we were getting fingerprinted for our FBI background check.

Catching Up

It has been a while....

Part of the reason that we have not updated lately is because you would probably be bored by what we have been doing: fill out this form, notarize those forms, make that call, etc.

Though it is not the most exciting stuff in the world, we have made huge steps forward in our paper work. Our home study is almost done. The big hold up is that we have to have child protection background checks done on each of us from every state we have lived in. That is 6 for me and 5 for Shelley (did I say "fill out this form , notarize those forms?")

We have also completed our on-line training courses. They were actually really good. We are also working through a self guided workbook that covers all kinds of topics. One of the assignments we have is to cook and try Ethiopian food!

We have been cleared medically. We have been fingerprinted for the FBI.

There is so much to be praying through and preparing for as our family changes.

One of the things that we are experiencing in the process is a higher sensitivity to racial issues. Adopting from Ethiopia will obviously make us a trans racial family. We know that will come with social challenges and we are preparing for that. But it is also opening our eyes and ears to how much racism there is around us all. Even in a "Christian culture" we are hearing people say things that don't seem very Christian. It is really sad. I am reminded of what Paul wrote to in Galatians,

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are ALL one in Christ Jesus."

We are excited that the oneness in our family is going to look a little different.

Please continue to pray that we would be growing in love for our child.
Pray that God would continue to provide all that we need.
Pray for Emily and James as we try to help them prepare for a new brother/sister.
Pray for the millions and millions of orphans all over the world.

I will leave you with this sobering statistic that should challenge us all to do something about the orphans in the world. Everyday over 30,000 children die because of starvation or curable disease. Lets pray for that number to decrease and all be willing to be part of the answer to that prayer.

Home Study is Underway

We had our first home study meeting yesterday.

In my mind I had this built up to be an intimidating/they are out to get us kind of thing. I pictured a cold-hearted Nazi-like person coming into my house to prove that we are terrible people and that they may even take away the children we already have...not really. But, I was anxious.

It was actually really good. The lady who his walking with us through the home study is fantastic. She was extremely helpful and encouraging. We will meet with her a couple more times. As we go she has to gather information about our background (she is a certified investigator). We will fill out a bunch of forms, get our finger prints done, get references etc. It is a lot to do but each part is one step closer to the end or really the beginning...


On the fundraising front, we need to raise about $15,000 more. That sounds like a lot but God has provided so much already that it really doesn't seem like a big deal.

Here are some of the things that the remainder of the money will cover:

International Service Fee $4,500
Medical Tests $450
Document & Translation Fees $600
Airfare for 2 trips to Ethiopia $6,000 ($1,500 per person, per trip)

There are more things but this may help you know where all this money is headed.

We have seen God provide in amazing ways so far and are excited about how He is going to do it from here on.

Please continue to pray for us to love our child and that God would bring him/her home quickly.

Moving on...

These past couple of weeks have been full of adoption craziness. Right after we sent in our first big chunk of money and paperwork we began to aim towards scheduling our home study.

Our agency, AGCI, is based out of Oregon so they can't really do the home study. We are having it done through an agency here in South Carolina, called Adoption Advocacy. They sent us a bunch of paper work to fill out as well as scheduled our home visit. They will come and check out our life on the morning of May 26.
After that visit we will meet with them once more in their office.

We also received a package from AGCI that includes our adoption planner notebook, more stuff to fill out, and a workbook for our on-line course we have to take. There is much to do!

On the financial side of things, we have been blown away by God's provision. we are just over a month into fund raising and are just about to pass the half way mark. We had one person, that we don't even know, send us $5000 just because she has a heart for Ethiopia. God is being so good to us.

We know that this whole thing is from Him and we are humbled that HE is letting us be part of it.

Please pray for our home study. It is kind of stressful to think about have your life dissected...

Big Day Today

In my previous post about our BBQ, I mentioned that we were $500 away from our first big goal. Today, we move on to the next goal....

We had a check in our mailbox today for $500! Thank You Lord!

This is such an amazing journey.

BBQ

Yesterday was such a good day. We are constanly blown away by God and how he uses people to help us out. He even uses BBQ...and it was really, really good. I consider myself an expert on eating BBQ and my very sensitive and refined tastes judge this bbq to be beautiful to the taste.

There two basic things about the day that really humbled us. One was that we made just over $2200! We were expecting around $1200. There were several peopl who voluntarily paid WAY more for their BBQ than the $6 we were charging. That was very humbling. So, with that amount we are roughly $500 away from our first goal of $7300.

So we are so thankful that God provided for us financially again and proved to me that my faith is pretty small....why can't I learn?

The second that blew me away was the people who served us. It is one thing to see money come in but it is such a humbling thing to see your friends give so much of themselves. Thanks to Neal, Joel, Hunter, Krystal, Walt, Andrew, Amber, Cory, Matt, Megan, Sara, Katelyn, Jimmy, who worked all day cutting meat, holding signs, setting up, cleaning up, serving people...YOU loved us well.

Then there are the pastors of Crossopint Church, Jason, Jeremy, and Ken who gave us free reign of the church facility and helped us promote the BBQ. Great friends and pastors!

Finally the Bennetts a.k.a "Slap Yo Mama BBQ", from Rock Hill SC. Jim, Annette, Samual and David (also a student at CLemson). They drove 2 hours, slept in the church parking lot cooked the meat, worked all day Saturday then drove home. THAT IS CRAZY! But it was such a gift of love towards us.

We are thankful. So thankful. And, just a little closer...

Emily's Lemonade Stand: The Georgia Extension and a Good Reminder

It is so cool how life and faith work...

I got a call from my sister last night (Thursday). Her two sons, Caleb (10) and Ben (8), have decided that they want to do a lemonade stand to help us out. They will be up and running Saturday, April 24 (Dana's birthday) starting around 2 p.m.

WHAT GREAT COUSINS! Thanks Caleb and Ben!

We continue to be humbled by all the ways that God is filling in all the blank pages of this story with His faithfulness. He really is good.

On another note I had a great moment in prayer this week. It has been so easy to anxious about the financial side of all this. It really does seem impossible at times. So I have spent a good bit of time praying for that part of the process. A couple of nights ago, as I was praying, I realized that I have spent much more time praying for the $$ than I have for the child who will come into our family. OUCH.

It was a great reminder that this about a life, a child, a Hunt that is on the way and not money.

I pray that we will love our coming child now more than the money we need to pay for the process. Please pray that with us.

doug