Happy Birthday C and G

This is a bittersweet birthday announcement.  C and G I know that you did not know that this is around the time of your birthday.  I know that you don't know this since we just had to pick the days for them.  I wish I could give you the day that you came into the world.  The one thing I can give you is a hope that this will be the last birthday that you spend without us.  We are coming for you and we can't wait to make you a part of this family.  You are always on our mind.  Sean tells everyone about you and he wants to show you all everything.  I hope that this is the first of many lasts you celebrate.

Waiting For G and C

We have been waiting for G and C for over a year now.  We thought when we started this process we would have been home several months ago.  We finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and I can't wait to get them home.  People have said that the waiting once you have a picture is harder and in a way it is, but it is also easier.  I can stare at their faces and imagine them as a part of everything we are doing.  That this is their last birthday without us or our last Thanksgiving or Christmas as a family of three.  I can't wait to experience some of their firsts and see their smiles.

Today I am linking up with A Place Called Simplicity.  This woman is an example of the Gospel here on Earth.  She is the mom of many and rallies the best prayer warriors around.   And I know that we could all use a little prayer.  She has put together a little questionnaire for all her bloggy friends to get to know us.


1.   How many children are you adopting?Two, a boy and a girl
2.  What names have you chosen and what are their ages? 

 Unfortunately we can't share names or identifying information on the internet.  They are both three years old and for now we are refering to them by C and G.  These will be the initials of their first names when they get home.  (at least that is where we are right now, we swear we won't be those parents who come home with the unnamed baby from the "hospital")
3.  Are any of the children you are adopting considered "Special Needs"? 
No 
4.   If yes, specifically what Special Needs?
N/A
5.  What country or geographic area are you adopting from?
The Democratic Republic of Congo
6.   Have you adopted before?
No
7.   How close to travel are you?
We are planning on traveling at the beginning of the year. 
8.   Do you attend church regularly?   If so, what type of church is it?
We regularly attend Centenary United Methodist Church
9.    Do you tithe with each pay {at least the scriptural standard of 10%}?
Yes
10.  Yesterday, did you participate in any way with the day of Praise, Prayer by giving praise on the link and then posting your request? 
Yes
11. How did you hear about the Link up? 
I am a regular blog follower/lurker.  I have been reading the blog for a couple of months since I came across it.  I actually read the whole blog start to finish for a week. :)
12.  Is there anything, briefly, that you would like to share with our orphan-lovin', God-honorin', Jesus worshippin' bloggy friends reading this?
I would just ask for prayers and provision.  We have had to learn a new level of dependece on God through this process.  Our eyes have been opened and we have seen what a world we live in and how we can make changes to affect the world around us.   The other side of the planet is much closer now. 

A blogger friend had posted this scripture the other day it has been really speaking to me.

"...we rejoice in our sufferings because suffering produces endurance and endurance, character and character, hope." Romans 5:3



Renee
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Finally, understanding that each gift received through this "Response Time" has been entrusted generously for our use from our loving Father, we promise, in the unlikely event that we would be unable to or decide not to adopt the children we are advocating for, we promise to return all of the money gifted to us as a result of this link to International Voice of the Orphan so they can, at their discretion, give to other families adopting.      

{Please place your initials on the line.} 
Yes, I will submit_RD__             No, I am unable to submit to this ________

Happy Birthday Sean

Dear Sean,

You turned six years old this year and you are doing an amazing job in kindergarten.  You really love school and are starting to find your groove there.  Reading is something you are excelling at.  I always find you looking in a book and trying to read the story.  You learned to swim and love the water, especially the diving board. You got glasses this year and I think you look so cute in them. 

This year for your birthday we took you on a little trip.  You have been asking for a long time to go somewhere and stay overnight.  Daddy thought up the perfect place to take you.  We went to Great Wolf Lodge.  You were in heaven.  I think you would have stayed there forever if we let you. 

We made the weekend about things you love.  We had lunch on the way up at a pizza food truck.  You love watching the food truck race and every time we see a truck you beg to stop.  Mommy made sure that a food truck was a part of your birthday experience.  And the pizza was really good too.

The thing that you are most excited about this year is your new brother and sister.  You want to show them all of the great things about our house.  You have started to notice all the little brothers and sisters that everyone else has.  I do try to remind you that your brother and sister aren't a baby but you are being so sweet and you pray for them by name every night. 

This year for halloween you have chosen to be a hunter.  I am glad that you want to be like your daddy.  You love your new bow and arrow and are outside shooting any time we will take you.  Archery was your favorite olympic event and that has fueled your desire to hit the target just like they do.  Thank you for being the caring, sweet, loveable, and funny kid that you are.  I love you and I want you to stay little but that isn't going to happen.

Praise GOD!  If you haven't heard by now, we have our referrals!  This all happened a couple of weeks ago, sorry about the late post.  Our heads are still coming down from the clouds. We've been so excited and filled with more questions than answers...but to delay no further, we're going 2 bring 2 home!  A boy and a girl, both 3 years old, unrelated but living at the same orphanage.

Unfortunately, we can't share pictures, but here is the picture we've started posting.

It is an amazing feeling to be able to pray for them by name and to see their faces.  The timing is still up to a year from now.  Our prayer is to have them home as soon as possible while realizing that we're waiting for God's perfect timing.  

More to come soon! 

We've also added a shop page to the blog, stepping up the fundraising. We have two different types of items:

1) Hand-painted flag clocks on vintage vinyl records.  Right now we have flags for the DRC, Ethiopia and China (focusing on the main adoption countries).  We're planning on adding to the mix with others! 

2) Hand-made glass ornaments with Africa on the front and "peace" on the back.  These can also be personalized.

Please send comments and ideas!  We may eventually post the crazy pictures of what our dining room has turned into with all the crafts.

Until next time,

Peace

Renee & Glen

Back to School

So I guess it really isn't "Back to School" as Sean's just starting kindergarten, but we're in full swing of things anyways.  The adjustment is a little more than I thought it would be as Sean's always done well in preschool.  I think the no nap at kindergarten is the huge difference.  He's doing great now after 3 weeks.  It's cool seeing him come home and is proud of how he's doing instead of

Me:  how was school today, what did you do?
Him: I don't know

 

Seems his favorite thing to remember is lunch and recess.  I'm sure I was the same way.  He's learning "new" games that I remember loving.  Anyone remember the freeze tag game where you had to crawl through the frozen person's legs to unfreeze them??? Guess it's called Superman Freeze tag now.  I loved that one! I'm looking forward to hearing about Red Rover.

No new news on the adoption front, just keep praying for our kids and that God is preparing us to be united. We are starting to sell some more items for the adoption fund.  So cross your fingers that we get our crafts up and going.  Excited to be doing something.

Till next time!  Glen

The Blog is Back

So we have been MIA from the blog world.  We have decided to recommit to the blog and updating a little more frequently.  Being in a pilot process has really challenged our resolve and our faith.  We are still committed to the DRC and our agency.  We really feel as we have been led to this place and that we are in the right place and in the right time.  We are planning a series of posts about what led us to Congo and adoption in general.  Talking things out really helps to process about what is going on.  So for today just an update on the process thus far.  We finished our home study in January and submitted our dossier to our agency.  We filed our I-600a to USCIS and got our fingerprints done.  We received our I797-c approval on March 23.  Since then we have been waiting.  We are now on month 7 waiting for a referral.  More to come, but that is where we are.

This picture is one of our favorite family photos.  Our friend Ellen, of Ellen Joy Photography, took it.  If you live near Indianapolis you should check her out.  She does fabulous work.

Till next time, Renee

There's Something Wrong Here

It has been going on for a couple of years now and I just don't know what to do about it.  I have tried bribery and every method I can think of but Sean will not eat ice cream.

Recently however we thought that there was hope.  He wanted us all to have desert together so we jumped in the truck and headed straight to get ice cream.

       

This looks great and I think that we have finally turned a corner until the dreaded my tummy is all full.

Sorry kid I just don't believe you and I have the picture to prove it.  The picture below (approximately 2 years ago) shows a typical breakfast except that he almost always asks for more.  Because he is always hungry!!!

 

He was however willing to let me scrape off the ice cream and try to eat the cone part because that just seemed cool.  

As you can see that this did not work out well either.  I will just have to keep trying.  Oh and thank you mom for the curse of having a child just like me.

(only my food issues are much less than everyone else except in the area of deserts, but I love ice cream)

  It keeps getting better every day.

On the adoption home front:  Our home study has been approved by our agency and we have sent in our application to the government.  It will take approximately 3 months for the government to approve us.  In the mean time our attorney in the Congo will  be working on matching us with our children.  This process will take about 6 months.  So after this brief flurry of activity we now begin waiting.

Happy New Year (at least it's still January)

We have been very busy over the holiday season.  We had a great Christmas and decided that what was one more thing? 

So we scheduled our home study over the Christmas break.  We have now finished up our meetings and are just waiting on the final draft.  We will then send the draft on to get our government approval. 

There is nothing quite like inviting a perfect stranger into your house to evaluate your home and your parenting abilities.  Our house has not been that clean in quite a while.  Glen used it as great excuse to really straighten up since we haven't had any visitors in a while.  (Derby season is around the corner and we are ready for visitors)  We survived and I think that since this is the first thing that Sean was able to participate in, he was very excited.

The next steps for us are to get our approval to adopt a child and wait for a referral. So after a flurry of activity we will now start our waiting.  We continue to read and prepare.