Financial Needs

I'm going to try to be completely honest in this post, but I also want to make it known that we are fully and completely trusting in God to provide for the financial needs we have with our adoption!!!!

I'm already finding that it's hard for me to know what I can and cannot say with this adoption. We have had a few possibilities thrown our way that haven't gone farther than a possibility and I don't want to say something and have people think it is a sure thing when it isn't. So I have chosen to simply not say much.

But that makes it hard to share the financial needs with people. We do not have the money we will need to complete a domestic adoption. Honestly, the financial costs will probably be close (if not more) than Nathan makes for a full year of work. We can scrimp and save and Nathan can work overtime and I can take any temporary part-time work that comes my way and still not be able to save the money we need all by ourselves. We need God's help and provision and we honestly feel like that might be one of the reasons that God has put adoption in our lives. To make us trust in HIM instead of being able to do things by ourselves!!!!!

We have a new possibility that has come our way in the past week and we are actively pursuing it. God has put people together in this situation in a way that only He could do, and it's making us sit up and take notice.

It would be a long story if I tried to share it all, so I'm going to try to only include a few details :-).

We are applying to be a "Tier 2" family with Iowa Lutheran Family Services. A "Tier 2" family is already home study ready (apart from LFS) and submits an application and their home study and has a meeting with someone from their agency along with submitting a family profile book, and then that family is on a waiting list. If there is a birth mother that is looking for a specific family or situation and none of the current LFS families meet those needs, then LFS will move to families on their Tier 2 list.

The woman we are working with at LFS is the same person who did our home study for Maya K's adoption. She also did our post-adoption visits and we consider her a good friend. What a blessing to have her helping us through this process. We have a meeting scheduled with her for this coming Thursday!!!!

(This does not mean that we will not be signing on with Christian Adoption Consultants. We can be involved with both organizations. Click HERE for the information we shared previously about CAC.)

Financial Needs

Here is where I'm having trouble knowing how to put into words what I want to say.

There is a small possibility that a certain situation may require us to need a large amount of money very soon. As in less than a month!!!!!

If we are matched with a birth family through the Tier 2 program, we will need $5,000 at the time that we accept that match. At the time of the baby being placed with us, we will need an additional $6,500. 

There may be other fees that arise during this time, but these are what we are focusing on right now.

We knew when we started this process that we did not have the money that we would need. We stepped out in faith knowing that God will provide as He deems best.

Again, I don't want anyone to assume that I just announced a definite of anything!!!! We are joining the Tier 2 program. That is all that is definite. But if we are matched quickly with a birth mother, we will need $11,500 in a very short amount of time!!!!

Will you please join us in praying for these financial needs? We are fervently praying that God will show us how He is going to provide and that we will continue to trust in Him through all of this!!!!!

Fundraisers
We currently have two fundraisers that we have up and going. Would you prayerfully consider helping us with one of these???

Puzzle ~ We are looking for sponsors for pieces of our puzzle!!! For $10 you can sponsor one puzzle piece and we will put your name on the back of the piece. When the puzzle is completed, we will glue it together and frame it. Our child will be able to look at the back of the puzzle and see the names of many of the people who helped us bring them into our family!!!! Please click HERE to see the announcement of this fundraiser and to see a picture of the puzzle we will be putting together. If you are interested in participating, please leave a comment or e-mail me (hearts 1982 @ gmail.com - no spaces!!)

Soda Cans/Bottles ~ We are asking for your empty soda cans/bottles!!! We will recycle them and use the nickel per bottle we receive to put towards our adoption expenses!!! If you are not in the area, but would like to help us with this fundraiser, feel free to recycle in your area and send us the money you receive.

THANK YOU for all the support and encouragement we have received already through this adoption!!!! Please continue to be praying!!!!!

Bragging!!

I'm going to brag on my daughter tonight. I know I probably shouldn't. But I'm just so crazy proud of her!!!!

She has loved books ever since she came home. She can sit for a long time just looking at books. The library is probably her favorite place to go and she sprawls out in the aisles looking at books.

I started teaching her how to read in Kindergarten this year and she did a very good job. But she doesn't like to stick with working hard at it for very long. She gets impatient to know what is happening in the story and just wants me to read it to her. Or she is content to just look at the pictures.

But the past few weeks, she has been starting to look for words that she can read in the library books we bring home, or as she looks at books that we own. I have started bringing some easy reader books home from the library and just putting them in her library book box for her to "find" during quiet time. I know that she is reading some of these books during her quiet time, because every once in a while she will bring one to me to show me that she can read it :-).

Tonight, at storytime, she brought me one of the library books and told me that it was her turn to read the bedtime story to me!!! :-).

The book she brought to me was a "My Turn, Your Turn" book of the Gingerbread Man. It's designed for a parent to read the left page and then the child reads the right page. We went through the book this way and the pages Maya K read were along these lines......

"Run, run as fast as you can.

You can't eat me.

I'm the Gingerbread Man."

"Moo! Moo!

Stop, little Gingerbread Man!

I want to eat you up!"

She did a great job reading these pages and I was happy that SHE was excited to be reading them to me!!!!

But wait. It gets better!!!

The last page for the parent to read is about the fox, and as I started to read it, Maya K quickly (and rather forcefully) stopped me and told me that SHE wanted to read that page. I told her that I was happy to let her try if she wanted to.

Here is what she read........

But the sly fox said, "Bark, bark! I don't want to eat you. I want to be your friend."

Soon, the little Gingerbread Man came to a river. The fox said, "I'll help you cross the river. Jump onto my tail." So he did. But before long the fox said, "You are too heavy on my tail. Jump on my back." So he did. After a while the fox said, "You are too heavy on my back. Jump on my nose." So he did.

Then, that sly fox quickly tilted back her head and opened her mouth. SNAP! And that was the end of the little Gingerbread Man.

I was AMAZED at how accurately and smoothly she read it!!!!!! She needed some help on the words "friend", "river", "heavy", "after", and "opened", but other than those words, it was all her!!!!!

She had practiced reading that page during her quiet time, so it wasn't a "first" read, but I'm still so super proud of her for all she has learned. It is starting to all come together in her brain and she is reading more smoothly and ENJOYING the process of reading!!!!!

So, that's my bragging moment of the day.

(Just remembering how 21 months ago she didn't speak any English and now she is READING causes me to sit back and thank the Lord for everything He has done!!!!!)

"Okay, God."

This past week, Nathan and I got busy about focusing on our next adoption. I have done more research, we have a plan, and we started a couple fundraisers to work toward our first financial goal. I asked for people to pray for us as we get started AND as we work hard to save the money we will need for expenses.

This past week, Nathan was given the option of working some overtime. He will be doing that this next week and any other time the opportunity is given him. God is providing through Nathan's overtime.

This morning I woke up with a cold. I stayed home from church because I'm not feeling well and thought it would be a good idea to get a little extra rest. This morning I received an email offering me another scoring job for the next week and a half!!!! God is providing through giving me some extra side work.

I am getting ready to start the training and qualifying process for this scoring offer, so it's not a sure thing right now. I have to qualify first. But we are looking at it as an opportunity that God has sent for us to be able to save a little extra for the adoption. Even if I don't qualify for the job, I still get paid for the training :-).

We are looking forward to seeing in what other ways God will provide!!!!! "Okay, God. Whatever You ask us to do, we will do."

Fundraising Time!!!

It's time to start fundraising for our next adoption!!!!

If you missed the announcement, please click HERE to see it!!!!

This new adoption journey is going to look very different than Maya K's adoption from Ethiopia. The process is completely different and we don't have specific amounts of money that we know we will need for different "steps" in the process. Additionally, we have less income coming in (since I am no longer teaching) to be able to set aside for the agency and legal fees. We are confident that God has led us to begin this journey, and we are confident that HE will provide the money we need at the exact moments we need it!!!!!

Our first financial "goal" is $3,430. We are planning to sign up with Christian Adoption Consultants, and this is the amount we will need to begin the process. This organization will help us throughout the domestic adoption process and we are very excited to use their services. We are praying that this will also allow for a quicker match with a birth mother who is looking for a family for her child. However, this also means that we need to be proactive about raising/saving the money we will need for expenses and legal fees.

Soda Cans
We did this fundraiser for our last adoption and while it was not the most "money-producing" fundraiser, it definitely had the most participation :-).

If you live in our area, we will gladly take all your soda cans and bottles and redeem them. The nickel we receive for each bottle/can will go straight towards our adoption expenses.

If you do not live in our area, but would like to participate, simply save and redeem your bottles/cans and send us the money you receive.

Puzzle
We also did this fundraiser for our last adoption. (To read about it from then, click HERE.)

We are looking for people to "sponsor" puzzle pieces for $10. When a person sponsors a piece, we will write his/her name on the back of the piece and add it to the puzzle. When the puzzle is completed, we will glue it together and frame it. Our child will be able to look at all the names on the back of the puzzle to see how many people prayed for and helped us bring him or her into our family!!!!

PLEASE be praying for us!!!!! We have a journey ahead of us that might be long or it might be short. We honestly have no idea how God is going to provide financially for this process, but we are trusting that He will do it as He deems best. We know that we will be stretched emotionally, financially, and physically, but we are looking forward to the end result!!!!!

Questions

Maya K asks questions. A lot of questions.

Even as I type those words, it seems to be a huge understatement.

We had a moment in the car the other day that really gave me a glimpse into what goes on in her mind and how frustrating it can be for her.

As we were driving down a country road, we saw a fire burning in someone's yard. I didn't see exactly what they were burning, but it was probably some brush or something along those lines. It was a pretty large fire with some big flames shooting up.

(These questions were all rapid fire with basically no pause between them.)
Maya K: "Mommy, why do some people.......? Is is okay for them to........? Why would they want........? Why is it so big? Will the people.......? What makes it look like......? I want to know.....? "Does it make smoke because......? (insert a longer pause) ........Mommy, I saw a fire."

This is what goes on in her little mind all the time!!!!! She literally has so many questions about every little things she sees or hears that she can't get all the questions out and they never stop coming.

This time, she ended with a simple statement. "Mommy, I saw a fire."

She couldn't get the questions to slow down to be able to sort out what she really even wanted to ask me.

I don't know if I could handle that much going on in my brain all the time. It's exhausting to me to try to keep up with her questions and know which ones to answer. But she has to process all those questions. I don't envy her!!!!!!

Maya K's 7th Birthday

The day started with a trip to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. To make it even MORE special, we ate our donuts outside on a table under an umbrella!!!

Once we were home, Maya K got to open one of her presents.

Nathan and Maya K went rollerblading for a while and Maya K worked to get used to her new blades. She was a little shaky at first, but she adjusted pretty quickly!!!

We took a "break" for the rest of the morning and Maya K went up to her bedroom to play with some new fairies that she got from her cousins yesterday :-). Then she got to open a few more presents before lunch.

Maya K chose what foods she wanted for her Bday meal and she chose porcupine meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, and fruit!!!! I didn't know how the corn on the cob was going to work with her missing and loose teeth, but she devoured that corn!!!!!

After lunch, we took Maya K on her first mini-golf adventure!!!! She had a ton of fun!!!!!

We were VERY hot and tired after mini-golfing, so we stopped at McDonalds on our way home for some ice cream!!!!

By the time we got home (around 3:20ish) we were all very worn out. Maya K was looking forward to her quiet time :-). She got to open her last two presents and then she went down for quiet time and I fell asleep on the couch while Nathan did the dishes (I love him!!!).

Dinner was leftovers and then Nathan left for his softball games and Maya K and I snuggled up on the sofa to watch Little House on the Prairie.

Maya K said multiple times today that it was one of her best days ever!!!!!

Happy Birthday, my 7-year-old little girl!!!!

Making a Decision

I have a hard time making decisions. I try to look at all the options and then if I absolutely HAVE to be the one to make the decision I normally put it off as long as possible to make sure I have thought of everything involved and worry about who I might upset and everything wrong that might happen with what I choose. I over-think every possible choice.

I have a decision to make in the next couple of days. I'm struggling to know what I should do.

Several years ago, I started doing seasonal part-time work scoring standardized tests from home. The job offers I have received have always been during the months of April, May, and sometimes June. If I accept a particular job offer, I am required to score tests for a minimum of 20 hours a week (they prefer more) and the jobs average around 2-3 weeks each. I do the work from my personal computer and can schedule my hours however I want/need to (between the hours of 7 a.m. - 9 p.m.).

In previous years, it made for some very long and tiring days. I would get up at 5:15 in the morning, get ready for the day, leave for school and teach all day, come home around 4:30/5:00 p.m. and get on the computer to start scoring. I would aim for around 3-4 hours of scoring each evening and then go to bed to get up and do it the next day. They were long and tiring days, but the extra income was greatly appreciated :-).

This is the first time since Maya K came home that I have accepted an offer to score a two week project in May (it starts just one week from tomorrow). It would seem that it should be easier to get my 20 hours in each week now that I am not teaching full-time and am at home with Maya K. But it is definitely going to be a challenge. I am homeschooling her so we have to get school done in the mornings. I do childcare three days a week and we have things going on several evenings each week. And I can't get up super early to score or stay up late into the evenings because the system is locked before 7 a.m. and after 9 p.m. I can only work during the day hours.

Nathan and I have talked about it and we agreed for me to accept this two week job for May. He is going to fix dinner every evening he can and I will go straight up to our room to work in the evenings (because I can't score after 9 p.m. I have to get my hours in before then). We're going to make it work :-).

(I seem to be long-winded tonight. Sorry!!!)

Here is the hard decision I am needing to make.

Last night I opened up my e-mail to find another job offer. This time it's a two and a half week project in June. During those two weeks, my calendar is already filled with Vacation Bible School, our 10-year wedding anniversary, and 8 sessions of swimming lessons for Maya K.

Do I accept the second job offer or not????

To be honest, we could REALLY use the extra income. We stepped out in faith when we brought Maya K home and I stopped working to stay home with her. God has been faithful in meeting our needs and we know that He will continue to do that. But is this job the way He wants to meet our financial needs, or does He have another plan?

I just don't know what to do right now. I only have a couple days to accept it if I am going to take it. I'm praying that God will make it clear to me.

Hair Day

Saturday is our "normal" day to do Maya K's hair, but if we have things going on Saturday, I will try to do it on Friday. This is one of those weeks :-).

I only shampoo Maya K's hair every 4 or 5 weeks. This happens to be a week that it needs to be shampoo washed, so that adds an extra step to the process.

I decided to write down times to give you an average for the length of time each step takes. I don't normally keep track :-).

Here is what her hair looks like before we get started.

I start by getting her hair completely soaked and then work the shampoo through the curls down to her scalp. I try to not rub the hair too much to prevent breakage. Then I rinse it all out. (This took 7 minutes.)

The next step is the most time consuming and results in the most complaints and whining from Maya K (keeping it real!!!). I work huge HANDFULS of conditioner into her hair. I do it a section at a time and probably use 8-10 handfuls. Then I use my fingers to detangle the curls (again, a section at a time). I usually end up with quite a bit of hair on my fingers that I throw in the trash. Then I add a little more conditioner and use a pick to comb through her hair more thoroughly. She despises this part of hair day!!!!! (This step took 15 minutes.) Here is her hair fully conditioned and detangled.

I leave the conditioner soaking in her hair while I wash her body. This is the easiest part of hair day :-). (2 minutes.) No photo.

After she plays in the tub for a while (today was 30 minutes), I drain the water and begin rinsing the conditioner out of her hair. Here is her hair after the conditioner has been rinsed out. (5 minutes)

Then I work a leave-in conditioner into her hair and use my fingers to pull it through the curls. (4 minutes) I pulled a piece down so you could see how LONG it actually is!!!!

It's finally time to get out of the tub, lotion her body, and get her dressed :-). (Btw - Absolutely NO towel drying of this hair is ever allowed!!!!) (9 minutes)

Today I'm going to put her hair into two-strand twists. They are simple and easy and don't take very long for me to do. She is sitting on her chair in front of the TV and I've got my tray table of supplies next to her.

It's hard for me to take pictures during the hair styling process because my hands are covered in hair product. But I tried to take a couple today :-).

I ended up doing something different than planned with her hair. I've been experimenting with things to do with the front and top of her hair when I do two-strand twists in the back. I like how the top turned out, but then it didn't look like I planned in the back. So I pulled all the twists up into a ponytail and then put barrettes on the ends :-). It's growing on me!!!

Styling her hair took  51 minutes today.

She got in the bathtub at 10:18 this morning and I finished her hair at 12:24 :-). It was a pretty quick hair day!!!! I like those :-).

"Vacuum??? In the BEDROOMS?!?!?"

I am not good at keeping a clean house. I'm just not. I'm being honest here.

I do decently well at keeping things picked up. Nathan is awesome about helping with that and so is Maya K. We have one end of our table that collects things, as well as a couple small piles on a couple stairs, and paper piles that slowly grow over time in our bedroom. But over all, we keep the "clutter" away.

I'm also pretty good with the laundry and dishes. I have my regular laundry days and get the clothes cleaned and put away. (At least they are put away within a day........or sometimes two.) The dishwasher gets run on a regular basis and the dishes are put away promptly. I try to hand wash the other dishes once a day (with the exception of Sunday; I often don't wash dishes on Sunday. I need a day of rest. Don't I???).

But when it comes to actual CLEANING, I struggle. I don't like doing it. So I put it off until we have people coming over and then I make sure I do the areas that people will see. Honestly, even the bathrooms don't get cleaned well on a regular schedule. (Sooooooo GROSS!!!! I know it!!!)

Over the years there have been times that I have worked out a schedule and cleaned on a regular basis. My best stretch was probably 2 or 3 years that I had a weekend cleaning rotation and it was great!!!!

But since Maya K came home, things have gone downhill.

About two weeks ago, I made myself a new cleaning schedule/rotation. Things HAVE to get better!!!! I set up a two week rotation of the regular cleaning tasks and have one or two tasks to do each day. My hope is that this way I won't get overwhelmed at looking at the need to get the entire house cleaned in just one day. It honestly doesn't take that long to just do one or two cleaning tasks.

I think the first few weeks are the hardest. Things are just so DUSTY!!!! I am doing a pretty solid deep cleaning these first few weeks and trying to get it all done right. It feels really GOOD to have a cleaner house!!!!!

I worked on dusting the bedrooms tonight. Our bedroom is still a work in progress because of all the stacks of books I have around the room. (I like books!!!) I also spent a few minutes straightening things up in Maya K's bedroom. (She does a good job of keeping her bedroom picked up, but small things accumulate in certain areas.)

When I came downstairs, Maya K told me that since I was working so hard to clean up the house, she was going to help me in the morning and work on cleaning up her room. I told her that was a great idea because I was planning to vacuum the bedrooms tomorrow.

Maya K: (shocked/quizzical look on her face) "Vacuum???? In the BEDROOMS?!?!?!"

Yes. I have failed. My daughter is surprised that the bedrooms need to be vacuumed. I am determined to remedy this mommy failure!!!!

Adoption Announcement!!!!

We are starting the process of a domestic adoption!!!!!!

This is a very different process from international adoption, so we are still learning as we go :-). Here are the details as we know them right now!!!

Decision ~ Nathan and I have been talking and praying about growing our family again for several months. In December, we tried to start the process, but God very firmly shut several doors that we attempted to open. So we stepped back, kept praying, and waited to see what God wanted us to do.

A couple weeks ago, several doors were thrown wide open and it seemed very clear to us that God wanted us to walk/run through those doors!!! Several pieces fell into place quickly and we are excited to see what God is going to do in this next chapter of our lives!!!!

Process ~ We are in the process of getting our home study done. The past week and a half we have been gathering the needed documents and our first visit with our social worker is this coming Saturday!!! Once the home study is done, we will have it (along with a profile of our family) on file in a few different places. The next phase is still a little "uncertain". We will be learning more about it in the next few weeks :-).

Request ~ We are pursuing an INFANT domestic adoption!!! Boy or girl. God's choice. :-)

Time ~ Honestly, we don't know. This could happen within two months!!! Or, we could be waiting for a year or more. We don't know. But God does. And HE will work out the details and timing in HIS perfect way!!! We have peace and confidence in that!!!!!

Prayer Requests ~ Peace. Patience. Finances. Details. Understanding. Wisdom.