Monday 6th, 2012

First off, we would like to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, and those of you who have contributed to help us have enough money to pay the bill. Nikki had gone around a collected some money, and a few days later, we were given the rest of the money that we needed to pay the bill. God is so good, He definitely provided, and we are so grateful!

Monday 6th, Ray wanted to go to a farming conference in Memphis, which turned out to be a very awesome experience for him. (more to come in our newsletter:) ) Anyways, since we were going to be out there already, we decided to go ahead and pay our bill in person, and turn in our profile book. I was up till 1:30 am doing all the finishing touches because we wanted it to be the best it could be and just could not stop adding or fixing :). But in the end, we were very happy with it. So, now, our bill is paid, and our book is there, waiting for birth-mothers to look at. We just simply wait and pray that God's Will be done, and in the meantime, focus on the Farm :).

Our Wonderful, Exciting News!

A few weeks ago, Ray and I were reading something that Watchman Nee wrote about prayer. He was talking about keeping a prayer journal, and writing down the dates that God answered those specific prayer. So, Ray wanted us to start one. On Sunday, we began our prayer journal, and one of the things we listed was the adoption. We got to the point of wondering if this was the right time for us to pursue adopting, or if we were supposed to wait for a while. So, we prayed and asked God to give us something letting us know what He wants us to do. On the following Tuesday, we got an email from Agape saying...

.."Congratulations! This is your official approval letter to adopt through Agape Child and Family Services. We are extremely excited to have you as part of our Agape family. We appreciate your desire to care for children and your commitment through our assessment process. Welcome to the family!... Your home has been approved to adopt male or female children, between the ages of newborn and one years old, any race, including multiples of up to 3 children....."

We are so thrilled! God answered our prayers so quickly, and very directly. It was very encouraging and exciting.

Now, we are working on getting the rest of the money to pay the bill. The bill we are paying is for the home study, the interviews, and for background checks. We did have most of the money a few months ago, but due to having to get health insurance and such, we had to spend some of it. So, now we are working on getting the rest that we need and hope to pay it by February 6th. We also have to finish the profile book and hope to take that to them on February 6th as well.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. And a special thanks to Nikki for surprising us and collecting some money while we are on our trip. Your the best auntie ever! And a special thanks to all of you who contributed! It really helped a lot!

Some Exciting News!

A little bit ago, last week or so (they all blend together, so not exactly sure the week), we received a call from Claire at Agape. She informed us that our home inspection passed! But, because we did not vaccinate our children thus we would probably not vaccinate the adoptive child (which they want us to), and because we did not have health insurance (for Ray and I), our case was closed (for lack of better words). We asked if there was anyway that they would take another look at us if we complied and vaccinated the child, and found health insurance. Claire said she would ask her boss, whom had decided that we were not acceptable. We have gone through so much with this agency, and we feel like they have bent over backwards to even let us pursue this as far as we have and working with how we feel God wants us to live. And we feel like to have to go with another agency, we may not get the same cooperation. Anyways, Ray and I talked often, trying to find out what direction we need to head and Ray felt like we needed to just still pursue this agency and hope they will work with us still. In our spare time, we would look around and try to find some health insurance that was affordable, and talked to other people we know at who have recently adopted and may have some suggestions for us.

Today, Ray was looking up some stuff during lunch break and decided to call Claire at Agape and ask about any stipulations on what type of health insurance we got. During their conversation, he asked her about whether or not her boss had been open to still letting us pursue this if we had health insurance and if we would vaccinate the child. Claire ended up reading Ray an email that her boss had sent her about us. It pretty much had said that we are great candidates for adopting, better than some, because of our lifestyle. And that the only problem that was seen so far, was that we did not have health insurance, and that we may not be willing to vaccinate the child.

I could not believe my ears! So, for lack of better words, our case is reopened! Praise God! We just need to keep looking for health insurance. Please pray for us to be able to find one that is not expensive, but that will be approved by Agape. (Some health insurance will not cover you if you are pursuing adoption :( )

We are so excited to see what God will do with all of this!

Thank you all for your support and prayers!

Our Review - Rescheduled :)

The latest on our home study review which was scheduled for last Thursday, then was postponed till this past Tuesday of which neither worked out. So, from what we understand, they plan on having it done by the end of this week. They have been emailing us a lot of questions and getting details that did not match up cleared up so we know they are working on it!

So exciting!

Our Review has been Postponed and Rescheduled!

Just a quick little update; our review on our homestudy has been rescheduled for July 7th. Meanwhile, we just wait until we hear back from them hopefully that day after their meeting and we will find out if we are approved or not! I am still working on the profile book, and its getting real close to being done!

So, hopefully, in a week we will have some new, exciting news!

Our Home Inspection!

Hurray! Despite all the weather, Claire was still able to come out yesterday and do our home inspection and our 4 interviews. We had a wonderful time! We took her on a tour of the farm and village, splashing through puddles and gliding through mud. It was a lot of fun!
There is a little bit more paper work we have to finish, but they still plan on reviewing our home study on this Thursday.
We are so excited!

Thanks again to everyone who helped us get our house ready, we really are grateful!

Getting Ready for Our Home Inspection

A quick update: This month, we have done about 3 yardsales. Some did well, some not so well, but we still made progress towards our goal of raising money for the Home Inspection. We also sold some nachos and Popsicles at John and Maranatha's wedding, and we made almost as much in that "not so stressful" afternoon than we did in our two best yardsale days. It was absolutely amazing!

The past two weeks have been really busy trying to get our house ready for the inspection. There was a lot of little cosmetic touching up and safety precautions that had to be put in order. We are very close, but still have a little more that needs to be done. We want to thank all of you for your help and support! Without you, this would not be possible!

Some of Our Awesome Helpers!

Proud Grandparents :)

Now, for the News!

Our Home Inspection is this Monday, May 2nd! We are so excited! We are also going to do all our interviews (there is at least 4, not sure how many total) on Monday as well. We are getting very close to being able to see if we are approved or not, and once we are, we just wait for that special child to arrive!

Please pray that we are able to have the house completely ready and that Monday goes well. We are very excited that Claire is the one who is doing our inspection, she is a very sweet young woman, and we are looking forward to spending the day with her!