A Positive MOWCYA Letter !

This week we have been anxiously awaiting hearing the news of our MOWCYA paperwork court date. This was the date exactly one week ago that N's Aunt went to court to again confirm that he is an orphan and that she understands what adoption is/means and gives her consent and that the judge reviewed our paperwork and agreed that we can pursue adopting him.

Normally you hear from MOWCYA in a day or two but they were a little behind so each day passing has increased our anxiousness but we continue the mantra "In God's timing, in his way" over and over and over.

Well, today I had this in my inbox......

" I am happy to share that MOWCYA has written a positive

 recommendation letter for your family! We should receive

 a court date for your family in the next few days. I expect your court

date will be for sometime in mid-late June, so I’d encourage you to be

ready to travel in the next 2-3 weeks or so. "

 

 

Totally ecstatic over here !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

(at this point I would love to post an excited picture of myself but at several epic failed attempts by my co workers and myself I reside to a simple Yea!)

So now we wait to hear when our court date will be and we start packing things like mad. Gene and I are still collecting donations so feel free to continue collecting (or check out my last blog posts for the list of items in need).

  

Thank you Lori Ranfeld, Mark Campbell, Linda Dudley, Karen Bowker for your donations to the many mission programs in ET!

We still are not able to share any more details about N but I can show you his first official outfit. Saria and I picked it out together, we couldn't resist!

 

Can I just say he is going to look so adorable!

 

 

 

 

Opened Heart 5K and Family Fun Walk

We want to start out by saying Thank You to everyone that supported us in this adventure! We appreciate Riverwood Resort (http://www.riverwoodresortmo.com/) for hosting the 5K, our parents for volunteering to work the 5K with us, all our friends and family that came out to support us, new friends we made from the race and those that were not able to come but sent us donations, bought t-shirts and prayed for us. Your outpouring of love has not gone un-noticed!

Our total donation amount (drum roll please) was right at $1,620 and we still have people sending in donations for t-shirts! That means after paying for t-shirts and supplies we raised over $1100 for our adoption, how awesome is that!!!

We had 15 people run the race and three people speed walk it.
Our winners were....

   1st Place Male: Bryson Crowell (age 10!) with a time of 23 :55
            2nd Place Male: Nick Grunwaldt with a time of 24:06

 

    1st Place Female: Kim Fowler with a time of 34:19

              2nd Place Female: Emily Johnson with a time of 41:51

In case anyone is interested, here are the times for the rest of the team!

Brent Callahan 25:36

Shane Strubbe 29:06

Brent Snyder 29:53

Ben Hobbs 30:24

Tim Pezzetti 35:11

Marco Valente 37:01

Jennifer Johnson 42:06

Evi Culter 42:05

Gib Adkins 59:44

Amber Sing 59:50

Trish Nail 59:50

 Click on the link below to watch an awesome short movie Robin made for us over the race. 
                       Openedheart 5K and Family Fun Walk Video

We had over 20 walkers on the Family Fun Walk as well! Way to go everyone!

Starting to set up



Gene's Parents aka Nena and Papa



My Parents aka MiMi and Papa



On your mark...

Get Set

and Go !

Thru the Woods

Over a Creek (The up a massive mountain hill)

Down the Gravel Road

And Down Some More

Follow the tour guides back thru

Last little leg,

And head to the finish line!

Phew-- I am tired just watching that!



Good friends

New beginnings



And what it was all about....



1 Month DTE and Fundraiser

So in the controlled chaos whirlwind of a weekend with the 5K fundraiser and fun with family visits, I just realized we are one moth DTE today!



It seems to have gone by so quickly and yet I know that it will most likely soon feel as if it is dredging on at a snails pace for a while. Probably since we have been preoccupied with work and finishing out the academic year it has made this month go by fairly fast.

So how are our numbers looking now??? We have moved up two spots to #84 for an infant boy, up two to #36 for a toddler boy, Still #13 for an older sibling set and #20 for a child over 4
         To make a long and confusing story short...we still have no idea if our boy will be an infant or five and if he will have a brother or a sister as well. To some people this may sound crazy, stressful, crazy, scary or well did I say crazy? To us, we are letting God choose who or whom is best for our family by keeping the doors open for adoption. Numbers still say it will most likely be a sibling set, but still not sure on the ages. Since our request is fairly broad ( one child 0-5 or two 0-5 and 0-10) we may receive a sibling set before someone with a early DTE date but requesting a younger age. Clear as mud? Well, I could ramble discuss numbers and probabilities all day long but I'm sure you may be kinda tired of my number guessing.

Onto the Fundraiser.... 

The 5K  Runners starting to line up...
they had their work cut out for them!

The Openedheart 5K fundraiser was awesome and we raised close to $1,000 to help bring our little guy(s) home! Thank you so much for your love and support that you showed.  We were so blessed by everyone and my heart was filled with love and encouragement! My next post will have some good video and pics of the race and will show the winners as well. Here is a sneak peak pic until I have the video made...

Some of our walkers for the 5K. Way to go Trish, Gib and Amber!

Numbers....

So now that we are "officially waiting for our referral" I work numbers in my head all day long on occasion because I am no way obsessive... Numbers on the waiting list, numbers of children and ages, numbers of  court dates, number of maternity days, school days and the list goes on and on.

Here are a few numbers that I wanted to share with you...

     Our number in line for an infant boy

        Our number for one child 4 or older

  Our number in line for siblings (only 3 families in this line

                                          are open to a partial older age range like us so this one is
                                          kinda tricky to judge)


                   Now some numbers to remind us why we wait......


 

            

The number of total Orphans in Ethiopia.

  Of the children in Ethiopia will not attend any school.


  Children will die before the age of 5 in Ethiopia.

   of May
                                                              Our fundraiser to make that number above     
                                                                at least MINUS ONE !!!!

How can you join us on this journey?

With all my heart I know that not every family is called to adopt (heck- that was even me for at time!) but I do know that our God calls us to help care for the orphans and the widows. In fact, one great way to care for orphans and widows is to love on a family who is actually called to adoption.  I am learning first hand that adoption is not an easy task and is virtually impossible without the support of community. I know you all have blessed us so much already with you kind words and encouraging hugs! So what can you do to follow us along in this journey? Here we go...

1. Pray.  Our God is a sovereign and strong God who calls us to walk by faith and follow him. Your prayers and the number one thing that keep us going and make a difference every day.
2. Talk. Keep in contact with us, sometimes I have absolutely no news whatsoever on movement in our adoption process but it is so nice to know that you care. We may not be "showing" physically or bringing home a baby but we are becoming parents (again) and it's nice to know you notice!
3. Give financially.  It’s no secret that adoption (international adoptions in particular) are financially costly.  If you feel that your part of our adventure is financial, we will be super blessed by your contribution.  We are working on a 5K and a Fun Run May 19th at Riverwood Resort, MO. You can check the tab on the top of this page for more info. Also our agency has an Eternal Family Program that can handle our donations. (We recommend leaving the memo line blank for tax purposes.)   Ddesignate it to us by placing our last name in the Notes section of the form. Talk to an accountant to be sure, but all donations should be tax deductible!
4. Join Us. I know I just said adoption is not for everyone, but it may be for your family. If not there are many organizations that you can partner with. (I recommend Because Every Mother Matters, Compassion International, or World Vision to name a few).  

Other ways we anticipate needing some love as we move further in the process:

• Orphanage Donations.  We will have a chance to collect donations for the orphanages in Ethiopia that work with our agency.
• Sibling love.  Any way you can bless our current children through the adjustment with play dates, prayers, and notes of encouragement would also bless us.
• Food.  We will never turn food away - unless you put seafood in it (instant ER visit for Gene)

I’m sure there are others that I can’t think of right now, so stay tuned!

Our first contribution

Our dear friends The Hiday's heard our opened hearts and in return opened their hearts to us. Kelli said she knew the moment that I shared with her our adoption plans she had to do something to help bring an orphan home. Knowing that the first payments to our agency and our homestudy were more than we had in savings, the Hiday's offered us a $5,000 loan intrest free. We are blessed to not only call them supporters but also our best friends. Thank you Hiday's for helping by praying and taking a leap of faith. We love ya!

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