Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Blessings!
A few weekends ago I travelled to Paducah by myself to help mom and dad clean out the attics to get stuff together for the yard sale that will be June 2 at their house. I also was able to visit with some long time friends who are heading up a bake sale the same day as the yard sale (btw, they are awesome!). While I was there dad gave me $20 that a guy he works with handed him after hearing about our story then mom and I had made a trip to an old friends house to pick up donations for the yard sale and was contacted to pick up more. And this this past weekend a woman I work with decided to not have her yard sale but instead donate everything she was going to put in it to us THEN she tells us that there is some friends of her that said we could have their left over stuff from their yard sale that day. I ended up knowing a lady at the second stop and the other woman handed us $40 to order pizza, that went in the adoption collection jar at home. ;) And before that weekend was over we had sold to our family and a friend $80 worth of yard sale finds PLUS we had a box of brass sitting around that Zack's dad took off for us that brought in $15 so overall God blessed us ABUNDANTLY with 2 truck loads, 2 back of my Scion loads and $135!!! We are so fortunate to have friends and family that are on board with us praying for this journey and giving of their "stuff" and time. :)
The yard sale in Owensboro is scheduled for July 28th.
I have friends and family members asking where we are at in the process.
We are waiting.
Not for the referral, but for God to provide the money to begin the next step, we will need $890.
What is the next step?
Thank you for asking! It is completing (which is done) and submitting our I600a form to the USCIS.
What is the USCIS and what is an I600a form?
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services - the I600a is our application we send to them to be approved State side to adopt internationally. There is fingerprinting involved with this. We will send a copy of our home study, birth, marriage and divorce certificates but because of our bump in the road we will also include several references from friends and family members.
There is a realistic concern that we could possibly have problems in passing the USCIS but our social worker and I are being positive and believe that God has bigger plans.
Please continue to pray for the process and that the $890 will come right when we need it. :)
One more check off the list...
So much has been going on in the Anderson household the past month, March 22 - 25 I participated in the women's Walk to Emmaus which is a 72 hour spiritual journey. It is totally life changing and God confirmed so much that is going on in my life that I had already felt Him showing me. Isn't it great to receive confirmation from God and to KNOW you are in His will for your life? :)
The weekend after that a group of women from church headed to Louisville for the Women of Joy conference. We had amazing speakers who again God used to confirm the path we are on. BUT the best part of the weekend was the amazing worship experience with Chris Tomlin. It has been since I was in high school at Student Life camp in Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, TN. What a Spirit filled experience and to be there with my Sisters in Christ was even more amazing!
The next weekend was Easter weekend and Zack was away with the young men of our church to Jasonville, IN to Shakamak State Park where they spent 3 days digging into God's Word and one young man came to know Jesus! I travelled with Kiannah to E-town to pick up my niece Lilly (Huston wasn't feeling well but joined us the next day!). Mom and Dad came in and we spent the weekend out at the campground, cooking for Easter and dad brought his chain saw and helped me cut down some bushes. On Sunday we spent the day relaxing with family and friends and ended with sitting around the firepit and roasting Easter Peeps!
The next weekend little Kiannah had surgery to remove her tonsils and adenoids and put tubes in her ears. We spent a great deal of the weekend visiting with her and loving on her. She's had a rough road to recovery but seems to be finally mending, Praise God!
Now, this past weekend on Friday Zack and I just vegged out, we've been busy going here and there that we enjoyed the afternoon/evening with each other watching Army Wives. We did get the opportunity to go visit and pray with a Saint who was just diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer, please pray for Nancy and her family as she goes through treatment. Then on Saturday we took two groups of girls to compete in the Free Will Baptist State Youth Competition where youth from all over the state meet and compete in Bible and Arts competitions. Both teams won first place in Sign Language! I am so proud of these young women and girls and the heart that they put into what they do. Next is national competition in Memphis! :)
Zack and I are so blessed to have such a loving family, church family and friends that are super supportive of us and totally 100% involved with this journey of adopting Baby Anderson and bringing him/her home. I have friends sending me messages on facebook telling us that they are following the blog, praying or gathering stuff together for our yard sales. I have a dear friend back home in Paducah that told me her son has a box set aside that he will put toys in for Baby Anderson. It warms my heart so much to know we have an amazing support system of Believers that are as excited as we are to see God's plan unfold and we give glory to God for everything!
On Friday I mailed out our application to Celebrate Children International, Inc (CCI). This was an exciting step! CCI will hopefully (if we are accepted) be our placement agency! This is the group that will work with us and with Ethiopia to get all of our paperwork in order and also work to match us with our Baby Anderson! They are now currently reviewing our application and references then when they approve us we will then work on getting our dossier together. The next step.................
Well I originally began writing this post on April 24th. About the time I wrote the last words above I received an email stating they had reviewed our application and there may be a problem with passing USCIS which means if we don't pass then we cannot adopt internationally. The problem comes from something Zack had knowledge of and became guilty by association over 10 years ago. (side note: To all of those teens and college students who are reading this.... don't think for one minute the choices you make today will only effect the here and now. As we have learned it could possibly effect the rest of your life.) I could not continue to write this post until now, since then I've prayed, Zack has prayed, we have prayed, family and friends have prayed and have gathered information from sources and we feel peace in this matter that God STILL has His hand on it! We knew that there would be bumps in the road and that it wouldn't be an easy process but of course we had hoped that we would be one of those "lucky" families that had a smooth sailing adoption! :) God sure does know how to snap us back into reality. SO now with fresh knowledge of what is ahead of us we know how to battle this and have faith in God that He will bring us through the fire.
I want to thank you for reading this and ask you to please remember us in your prayers and thank you for praying. :)
The weekend after that a group of women from church headed to Louisville for the Women of Joy conference. We had amazing speakers who again God used to confirm the path we are on. BUT the best part of the weekend was the amazing worship experience with Chris Tomlin. It has been since I was in high school at Student Life camp in Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, TN. What a Spirit filled experience and to be there with my Sisters in Christ was even more amazing!
The next weekend was Easter weekend and Zack was away with the young men of our church to Jasonville, IN to Shakamak State Park where they spent 3 days digging into God's Word and one young man came to know Jesus! I travelled with Kiannah to E-town to pick up my niece Lilly (Huston wasn't feeling well but joined us the next day!). Mom and Dad came in and we spent the weekend out at the campground, cooking for Easter and dad brought his chain saw and helped me cut down some bushes. On Sunday we spent the day relaxing with family and friends and ended with sitting around the firepit and roasting Easter Peeps!
The next weekend little Kiannah had surgery to remove her tonsils and adenoids and put tubes in her ears. We spent a great deal of the weekend visiting with her and loving on her. She's had a rough road to recovery but seems to be finally mending, Praise God!
Now, this past weekend on Friday Zack and I just vegged out, we've been busy going here and there that we enjoyed the afternoon/evening with each other watching Army Wives. We did get the opportunity to go visit and pray with a Saint who was just diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer, please pray for Nancy and her family as she goes through treatment. Then on Saturday we took two groups of girls to compete in the Free Will Baptist State Youth Competition where youth from all over the state meet and compete in Bible and Arts competitions. Both teams won first place in Sign Language! I am so proud of these young women and girls and the heart that they put into what they do. Next is national competition in Memphis! :)
Zack and I are so blessed to have such a loving family, church family and friends that are super supportive of us and totally 100% involved with this journey of adopting Baby Anderson and bringing him/her home. I have friends sending me messages on facebook telling us that they are following the blog, praying or gathering stuff together for our yard sales. I have a dear friend back home in Paducah that told me her son has a box set aside that he will put toys in for Baby Anderson. It warms my heart so much to know we have an amazing support system of Believers that are as excited as we are to see God's plan unfold and we give glory to God for everything!
On Friday I mailed out our application to Celebrate Children International, Inc (CCI). This was an exciting step! CCI will hopefully (if we are accepted) be our placement agency! This is the group that will work with us and with Ethiopia to get all of our paperwork in order and also work to match us with our Baby Anderson! They are now currently reviewing our application and references then when they approve us we will then work on getting our dossier together. The next step.................
Well I originally began writing this post on April 24th. About the time I wrote the last words above I received an email stating they had reviewed our application and there may be a problem with passing USCIS which means if we don't pass then we cannot adopt internationally. The problem comes from something Zack had knowledge of and became guilty by association over 10 years ago. (side note: To all of those teens and college students who are reading this.... don't think for one minute the choices you make today will only effect the here and now. As we have learned it could possibly effect the rest of your life.) I could not continue to write this post until now, since then I've prayed, Zack has prayed, we have prayed, family and friends have prayed and have gathered information from sources and we feel peace in this matter that God STILL has His hand on it! We knew that there would be bumps in the road and that it wouldn't be an easy process but of course we had hoped that we would be one of those "lucky" families that had a smooth sailing adoption! :) God sure does know how to snap us back into reality. SO now with fresh knowledge of what is ahead of us we know how to battle this and have faith in God that He will bring us through the fire.
I want to thank you for reading this and ask you to please remember us in your prayers and thank you for praying. :)
Monday, March 12, 2012
Fundraiser numero uno
I am writing to announce a big fundraiser that is in the works right now. The weekend of the huge Hwy 68 yard sale (June 1-3 in Paducah) I will be having a yard sale at my parent’s home. I know everyone has a box of stuff sitting in their house somewhere labeled “yard sale” but you either don’t want to mess with it or don’t think you have enough stuff to warrant a yard sale (that's always me). Here is your chance to get rid of that box of said stuff! We will be accepting donations of items for the yard sale to help bring home Baby Anderson from Ethiopia!
Also, for those in the Owensboro area, we will be having a yard sale too, the details haven't been worked out yet but if you have a GREAT location for a yard sale in an area that has a huge yard sale weekend and would be willing to let us set up then please contact me!
You can email me if you have any questions, rosebud76(at)gmail(dot)com
Thank you so much for your time to read this and your prayers.
Lauren and Zack
Also, for those in the Owensboro area, we will be having a yard sale too, the details haven't been worked out yet but if you have a GREAT location for a yard sale in an area that has a huge yard sale weekend and would be willing to let us set up then please contact me!
You can email me if you have any questions, rosebud76(at)gmail(dot)com
Thank you so much for your time to read this and your prayers.
Lauren and Zack
Friday, March 9, 2012
Huge Announcement!!!!
So last night Zack and I went to meet with Meredith, our wonderful Social Worker who will be holding our hands as we walk through this journey. She shared with us her beautiful story of their adoption of baby Hensley and Hollis from Ethiopia. Here's the thing, I know God's got this... It's right in the palm of His hand... See when Meredith was assigned to us it was purely a God thing. She has been amazingly patient in answering the millions of questions I have shot to her via email and tonight. She was able to ease my mind on what is involved with the Home Study and the mountain of paperwork that will be in our near future. But see that's not the best thing about our pairing, while she was sharing with us about her babies and the journey they have had God was speaking to Zack and I that we were about to take the SAME path she and Curtis had taken... Literally.... Going into this meeting with her Zack and I had tossed around the possibilities of adopting from this country or that country and even adoption domestically. Neither of us really had decided anything so we were excited to learn all about the advantages and disadvantages to domestic and international. We knew where Baby Anderson would be coming from when we left there. I had just assumed that it would be domestic or an Asian country, I would have never imagined where God has called us to adopt from.
Africa had already become a dear place to Zack in his heart and now my heart is full of love for a little tiny baby that will be coming from the beautiful country of Ethiopia.
We left our meeting knowing how much it's going to cost us (approx 26,000), how long it will take (approx 12-18 months starting now), and where we go from here. We are scheduled to have our Home Study on March 19th, 2 weeks after that it will be finished. At that time we will file another form and prepare our dossier. I can't believe that in about a year I can be holding my little bitty baby! :) Zack and I have been searching the house and putting stuff on Ebay to sell, we have some fundraisers set up and once the Home Study is complete we can then apply for grants. Please continue to pray for us and especially pray for Baby Anderson and their birth momma's health!
Click on over to Zack's Blog to read his side of the story. :)
Baby Anderson will be coming to us from...
We left our meeting knowing how much it's going to cost us (approx 26,000), how long it will take (approx 12-18 months starting now), and where we go from here. We are scheduled to have our Home Study on March 19th, 2 weeks after that it will be finished. At that time we will file another form and prepare our dossier. I can't believe that in about a year I can be holding my little bitty baby! :) Zack and I have been searching the house and putting stuff on Ebay to sell, we have some fundraisers set up and once the Home Study is complete we can then apply for grants. Please continue to pray for us and especially pray for Baby Anderson and their birth momma's health!
Click on over to Zack's Blog to read his side of the story. :)
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Belly of butterflies!
I am so excited and ready to meet Meredith, our Adoption Worker tonight in Elizabethtown. :)
We will be handing over to her a large stack of papers that we have spent the last few weeks gathering together and spending time asking questions and having the process explained to us. I pray that we will have a clearer picture of where we want to adopt from and what kind of time frame we are looking at.
The weather is pretty gloomy and rainy today. Please keep our travels (ours and Meredith's) in your prayers today/tonight.
One more step closer to bringing you home Baby!
We will be handing over to her a large stack of papers that we have spent the last few weeks gathering together and spending time asking questions and having the process explained to us. I pray that we will have a clearer picture of where we want to adopt from and what kind of time frame we are looking at.
The weather is pretty gloomy and rainy today. Please keep our travels (ours and Meredith's) in your prayers today/tonight.
One more step closer to bringing you home Baby!
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
An Angel
An Angel came to visit Zack and I yesterday and left us a gift from Jesus. This gift came totally out of nowhere and was completely straight from Him. It was a beautiful card that said Baby on the front. Inscribed in it was a note from Jesus that was directly to me...
"Let me start by saying how proud I am of both of you. I have heard your prayers and felt your sorrow as we battled infertility together. I know your heart and rejoice at your desire to become parents. It does my heart well to see my children imitate their Father. After all, I have adopted you, and I love you with all my heart. Becoming a Mommy and Daddy won't be easy, but remember I am with you always. I am excited to begin this exciting new chapter of your lives with you. Cherish, nurture, love and care for this precious gift as I have cared for you. I love you with a never-stopping, never giving up, always and forever kind of love! Jesus"
When I read this I felt Jesus right there, like he was holding my hands and looking me in the eyes and then just held me.
Over the past 10 years I have questioned God and not understood his plan. That is until Friday, February 17th at 10:40 in the morning. That is when Zack told me that he was on board and ready to pursue adoption. That is when the past 10 years came rushing back to me and it became totally clear! I mean I already knew that adoption was part of my future but until Zack was ready it was always a wish and a hope but now it's reality!
Whoever this Angel is, THANK YOU, thank you for allowing God to speak through you and write such a beautiful note that spoke directly to us and for the gift to get us started on this journey financially.
P.S. If you haven't already, swing on over to Zack's blog and read his entry about this, it is completely from his heart.
"Let me start by saying how proud I am of both of you. I have heard your prayers and felt your sorrow as we battled infertility together. I know your heart and rejoice at your desire to become parents. It does my heart well to see my children imitate their Father. After all, I have adopted you, and I love you with all my heart. Becoming a Mommy and Daddy won't be easy, but remember I am with you always. I am excited to begin this exciting new chapter of your lives with you. Cherish, nurture, love and care for this precious gift as I have cared for you. I love you with a never-stopping, never giving up, always and forever kind of love! Jesus"
When I read this I felt Jesus right there, like he was holding my hands and looking me in the eyes and then just held me.
Whoever this Angel is, THANK YOU, thank you for allowing God to speak through you and write such a beautiful note that spoke directly to us and for the gift to get us started on this journey financially.
P.S. If you haven't already, swing on over to Zack's blog and read his entry about this, it is completely from his heart.
Monday, February 20, 2012
And the paperwork begins...
Zack and I sent in an application to Adoption Assistance over the weekend and we were sent the Home Study packet. At first glance I thought "Oh, this isn't going to be too bad." Boy was I wrong. It caused me quite a bit of stress. We had to list our addresses for the past ten years..... once I started my list the longer it got... I have had one address for the past 5 years but the 5 years before that was 5 different addresses and two of those addresses repeated themselves one time. While going over this list of addresses and trying to remember when I lived where it took me down "memory lane." Boy am I glad and soooooooooo thankful of where I am now and what God has brought me through! Zack is an amazing husband and I'm so lucky to have him in my life. I would not want to go through this process with anyone else. I love you!
Papers are mainly filled out, I have to get my medical forms filled out at my next appointment in 2 weeks. We have asked our dear friends to write letters of recommendation. I am sending out our background checks tomorrow. And the list goes on.... And really it's not the forms we had to fill out but all the pieces of information we have to pull together. Whew!
But....
It's TOTALLY worth it!!!!!!!! :)
I already love you so much Baby Anderson.
XOXO Momma :)
Papers are mainly filled out, I have to get my medical forms filled out at my next appointment in 2 weeks. We have asked our dear friends to write letters of recommendation. I am sending out our background checks tomorrow. And the list goes on.... And really it's not the forms we had to fill out but all the pieces of information we have to pull together. Whew!
But....
It's TOTALLY worth it!!!!!!!! :)
I already love you so much Baby Anderson.
XOXO Momma :)
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