Update

Our paper work has been sent to Ghana now we wait for a referral. I am so excited to see the child God has in store for us. Thankfully for you this is a post and not me in front of you jumping up and down with excitement. Sometimes it just hits me the excitement and fear that awaits my family. We have read everything and talked to many people but just like have a child you won't really know till you experience it. Anyway that is all I will say on that. Everyone who lives in San Diego if you would like to buy one of our shirts you may go to the Yogurt Mill in La Mesa. You get a free yogurt with purchase. I having a wonderful friend who has offered to let us put our shirts in her store. I hope my next post will be with news of a child.

Our Shirts

Here are the fundraiser shirts. We have 50 to start and see how they do we are selling them for $15. We only got a few sizes Adult XL Adult M and Youth M. I hope that you will find one that fits. I will be selling them at a rummage sale on the 4th in Lemoore and than I will being them to San Diego for Easter. I think they will be for sale at the Yogurt Mill in La Mesa. On the adoption front our home study is just about done all we have to do is make a few changes on the wording and it is done. We have mailed our Dossier into our agency so they can have it sent to Ghana. Now we will wait for Ghana to send us a referral on a child. Now that our home study is done I can start applying for Grants. It is up to me to get the money. I said to my friend I have sent in all the paper work I now will just trust in the Lord that we will get the money. I will update you after the sale or if there are any changes or developments. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Changes, Changes, Changes

We had been told from the beginning that things can change and they have. At the end of January Liberia suspended their adoption program until laws, policies and proper guidelines have been established. This was because of some gross mismanagement of some adoption programs by some agencies. Our agency was not involved in this, but this has stop all adoptions until the Liberian Government feels they want to reopen it. With that said it seems that it could be awhile until we would move forward. After praying about it and talking with our agencies we have decided to go forward and adopt from to Ghana. Our agency that we are working through for our home study has a program in Ghana. When we chose Liberia, Ghana was our second choice so God must have plans for us there. We will now just be working with African Cradle. It will be a bit more expensive but it seems like the best choice. Our home study should be done by the first week in March. I hope to go next week and file our immigration paper work. I am hoping to get some shirts made up to sell as a fundraiser I will let you know how that goes in the next few weeks. We will continue to press on and lean in to him. Thank you for all your support and prayers.

Updates and Dreams

It has been awhile since my last post. So where are we? We are almost done with the home study. We have to wait until we move to set our interviews with a social worker. They may come a decide I am too crazy. One of my friends got our donation letter and wants me to put a thermometer on the side to show how we are doing on our funds. I not sure I am computer savvy enough to do that but I might try. I have had some wonderful dreams the last few nights about our new child. It's like God is saying to me be patient but here is what I have in store for you. Brayden asks all the time about his new brother, when will he be here? can we buy him some toys. Brayden recently made a new person on our Wii and he said it is his brother. The child has dark skin and big hair. I ask why he has such big hair he said that what he thinks he will look like I said we could cut his hair short like his. I tell Breayden when we talk about the child that God has him picked out and we just have to wait a little longer. Brayden asks if he will get gifts from Santa, or if he likes going to the park. Brayden has chosen the spot where his new brother will sit a the table it is the little things that are important to him. We keep praying that God will move on our behalf and we will be united soon.

Adoption the process

We are in the process of doing our home study. This is the first step when doing an adoption. We have all gotten our physicals. We have ordered all the paper work from the different states that we need. Bret and I have been finger printed. We are now waiting to get all the papers back. We will than set up our first of two social worker interviews. We think we will have one before Christmas and another after we move in the beginning on January. We will than have our home study complete and ready for our Adoption. We are also working on preparing our paper work for the Liberian government. The process is quick once we are done with our home study. The adoption should take 3-4 months. We will keep you posted.

Our Letter

We are writing to tell you about some exciting news happening in our family. While Bret was gone on his last deployment we talked a lot, and one of the things that kept coming up was the possibility of adoption. I kept hearing the still small voice of God telling me that we cannot help everyone, but we can help one. For a few years I’ve been working with a company called Bead for Life. These are women from Uganda making necklaces in order to provide for their children. We now feel like we want to take it one step further and offer a forever family for a child that doesn’t have one. We might not be able to provide the most lavish lifestyle, but we can offer a warm home and unconditional love. There is a song with the line “break my heart for what breaks yours,” and we feel like our hearts have been broken for the orphaned children in Africa. Currently there are over 10 million orphans in Africa, and the number continues to grow every day.

After researching the different African countries that are open for adoption, we’ve landed in Liberia. Liberia is on the West Coast of Africa, right next to Sierra Leone. It is a war-torn country, with many children who have been orphaned by war or AIDS. Liberia has a high number of toddler boys available for adoption, which is one of the reasons we chose it. We are looking to keep our birth-order intact, so we are trying to get a child younger than Brayden, but older than 2 years old.

Our family is going to be forever changed as we move forward with the adoption. Our hearts are ready, and our kids cannot wait to welcome their new sibling. Brayden asks every time he sees an African American child whether this might be his new brother J.

We humble ourselves before our friends and family and ask you to pray for us as we embark on this great adventure. There are substantial costs involved, and if you would consider making an investment in this child’s life, you can send a tax deduct-able donation to the below address. If you would like to follow the progress of our adoption you can check out our blog at: JoelFamilyAdoption.blogspot.com

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this letter and for considering our requests.

Sincerely,

Bret, Kristy, Hayley, Alyssa & Brayden